Iain Duncan Smith attacks Dominic Grieve over national government call
2 min read
Dominic Grieve has been branded “disloyal” by a former Cabinet colleague over his suggestion that there could be a national government formed to bring down Brexit.
It comes after the former attorney general became the latest senior Tory to back a second Brexit referendum on the terms negotiated between the Government and European Union.
Mr Grieve said a fresh vote was a “desirable outcome”, but said were it not supported by ministers, or MPs could not “produce a majority in Parliament which the government is then prepared to go along with”, then a new administration could be formed.
But former party leader Ian Duncan Smith said his colleague risked heralding Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street and said the claim was a ten on the “Richter scale of disloyalty” to the party.
Mr Grieve told the New Statesman ahead of the Tories conference in Birmingham: “It would be fairly radical. Ultimately, any government is one which enjoys the majority of support of members of Parliament to carry out a policy,” he said.
“So, it would have to be on a cross-party basis.”
He added: “There is a very curious level of majority consensus in my view that the Brexit process is very risky, that no-deal is an unacceptable outcome, and that any deal brought back by the Government, however worthy it may be and however well negotiated, is likely to have serious downsides to it.”
But Mr Duncan-Smith told The Sun: "Dominic Grieve would throw a lifeline to Jeremy Corbyn, attacking his own Prime Minister all so he can renege on the democratic vote of 2016 which he has never accepted.
"On the Richter scale of disloyalty, this is an out-and-out 10."
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