Lord Patten and former Prime Minister Sir John are supporting three independent candidates who had the Tory whip removed for rebelling on Brexit. These Remainer former-tories are now contesting their old party on December 12. They gave former ministers Anne Milton and Dominic Grieve their backing, along with David Gauke, who was yesterday campaigning in Rickmansworth with the help of independent London mayoral candidate Rory Stewart.
Former Conservative deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine also backed the independents and urged voters to place their mark beside the pro-Remain Liberal Democrats.
Lord Patten, ex-Governor of Hong Kong and minister under Margaret Thatcher and Sir John, said anti-Brexit rebels had been “squeezed out of the Conservative parliamentary party in a way unprecedented in my political lifetime”.
He separately added that the Remainer candidates he supports represent “what the Conservative party has stood for during decades of success: a moderate, decent, socially inclusive and internationalist political movement.
He contrasted this with what he deemed under Mr Johnson’s leadership as being “a narrow-based rightwing English nationalist party”.
Chris Patten (Image: GETTY)
Chris Patten and Sir John Major (Image: GETTY)
Sir John told a rally on Friday night demanding a second EU referendum in London: “Let me make one thing absolutely clear: none of them has left the Conservative Party, the Conservative Party has left them.
“Without such talent on its benches, Parliament will be the poorer, which is why, if I were resident in any one of their constituencies, they would have my vote.”
Sir John described Brexit as the “worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime”.
He described leaving the EU as affecting nearly every single aspect of our lives for many decades to come and added: “It will make our country poorer and weaker.
“It will hurt most those who have least.
“Never have the stakes been higher, especially for the young.
“Brexit may even break up our historic United Kingdom.”
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Boris Johnson (Image: GETTY)
Tony Blair was also among the speakers at Friday’s rally, saying of his one time general election opponent: “Thank God for John Major.”
But Boris Johnson hit back, on the BBC debate last Friday night he said: “Unlike Mr Major, I lead a party that is totally united as all 630 candidates at this election actually back my deal.”
Mr Johnson was asked on the debate by an audience member if he was worried about Sir John’s remarks or regarded him as a “has-been”.
He replied: “I have the utmost respect of course for all former Conservative leaders and don’t wish to deprecate anyone as a has-been but I don’t think he’s right and we have a fantastic plan to get Brexit done.
“It’s a deal that’s ready to go, it’s oven-ready, we can get it back into Parliament by Christmas if we have a majority Conservative government.”
Sir ohn’s tenure as Prime Minsiter suffered becuase of the infamous Maastricht Rebellion of 1992, which saw a humiliated Sir John having to face down Tory MPs who refused to back his signing up to the controversial European treaty which would bind the bloc’s member states closer together.
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Boris Johnson (Image: GETTY)
But, Sir John urged voters at Friday night’s rally to “choose the future you believe in”, telling young people in particular: “Your vote is absolutely crucial, for you have the longest lease on our country’s future, and our place in the wider world.
“Don’t wake up on Friday December 13 and regret not making a choice.”
But staunch Brexiteer Sir John Redwood appeared on talkRADIO to offer his assessment of the intervention shortly after the Prime Minister said it was “very sad”, and that Sir John “is wrong”.
Sir John Redwood, who argued Sir John Major’s approach to Europe had “destroyed” the party’s reputation in the 90s, was asked by radio host Dan Wootton for his thoughts on the election meddling from the former Tory leader.
Election 2019 (Image: Express)
Mr Wootton said: “You at the party have put Brexit at the heart of your election campaign and you now have your former Prime Minister saying it is the worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime.
“So you can understand why it would be the first thing I ask you about today.”
Sir John Redwood said: “I don’t think he will carry a lot of weight with electors.
“He, after all, backed Europe so heavily that he did grave damage to the British economy and we lost a very important election.
“And we were out of office for 13 years as a result of all it all. I wasn’t his rival. I was his critic. I told him not to follow the European economic policy which he followed.
“I told him it would cause a major recession. It did. And it destroyed the Conservatives’ reputation for economic good management for some 13 years.”
