The Brexit secretary said the future Tory leader – either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt – should expect similar opposition to that experienced by Theresa May when she tried unsuccessfully to pass her deal three times. He told politico.eu: “I think whoever takes over will quickly see that the numbers in parliament are unchanged and that it is in a parliament that is split and in a country that is split it is an extremely difficult challenge.” Mr Barclay, who was appointed Brexit secretary last November after Dominic Raab resigned in protest over the prime minister’s deal, said Britian has found itself up against a brick wall with the EU and Dublin when it comes to the main sticking point of the agreement – the backstop.
He said: “I still think she was right to seek to compromise and to try and build consensus, I think the difficulty we have had and that the prime minister has had is that the EU and particularly the Irish government to date have been unwilling to move in terms of the indefinite nature of the backstop.”
His warning comes as a no-deal Brexit looks increasingly likely as both Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt have refused to take the option off the table.
Mrs May, whom Mr Barclay has commended for her work on securing a deal, saying “no one could have worked harder”, fought for three years to prevent the UK crashing out of the bloc without a deal.
In an interview with BBC News, Mr Johnson said he did “not believe for a moment” that the UK would find itself in a hard Brexit scenario but nevertheless said he was willing to back the option.
The ex-foreign secretary admitted there was “no single magic bullet” to solve the issue of the backstop – which is designed to prevent a return to a hard border on Ireland.
But he said he was confident he could convince Brussels to reconsider it because “there’s a really different understanding of what is needed” in the UK and in Europe now, compared to when the talks began.
Mr Hunt on the other hand has said a hard Brexit would be better than remaining in the EU and he would back the option only as a “last resort”.
The Foreign Secretary has vowed to include members of the DUP, the ERG and Welsh and Scottish Tories in a Brexit negotiating team if elected as prime minister.
Mr Hunt, like his rival Mr Johnson, has insisted he would be able to bring EU leaders back to the table – but Brussels has insisted it will not renegotiate the package of measures.
Mrs May is today holding her final Cabinet meeting before her successor is welcomed into Downing Street.
Mr Johnson has faced intense criticism for dodging public debates as the race heats up.
Mr Hunt branded him a “coward” for refusing to take part in a Sky News debate scheduled for today.
