Tory rebels have welcomed plans for Jeremy Corbyn to replace Boris Johnson as caretaker Prime Minister in a bid to prevent a no-deal Brexit .
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve signed a letter agreeing to meet the Labour leader, along with fellow remainers Sir Oliver Letwin, a senior minister under David Cameron and Dame Caroline Spelman.
Former Tory MP Nick Boles, who quit the party over Brexit also signed the letter, which agreed to meet to discuss “the different ways” to prevent the UK crashing out of Europe without a deal.
And Tory former defence minister Guto Bebb urged fellow Conservatives to take Corbyn’s plan “seriously”.
(Image: WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/REX)
(Image: Daily Post Wales)
He said: “A short-term Jeremy Corbyn government is less damaging than the generational damage that would be caused by a no-deal Brexit”.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it was “absolutely extraordinary that any Conservative MP considered even for one minute installing Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.”
And Mr Grieve’s own local party chairman, Jackson Ng, branded the MP “un-Conservative.”
He said: “The continuous and thoroughly un-Conservative behaviour being exhibited by Dominic Grieve has become more worrying.
“Should he entertain the idea of siding with Jeremy Corbyn or any other government other than the existing Conservative Government being led by Boris Johnson, he will leave us with no choice at all as an association.”
While Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has agreed to meet with Corbyn, she remained sceptical that the Labour leader could command enough votes in the House of Commons to make the plan “viable.”
She said Tory grandee Ken Clarke and former Labour leader Harriet Harman are both prepared to lead an emergency government to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
(Image: Paul Davey/SWNS)
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Swinson said: “I have been in touch with them because obviously you don’t just mention people’s names without checking that they’re OK with that.
“I mean, both of those are long-serving Members of Parliament, the most experienced MPs in the House, the mother and father of the House as they are called in the House of Commons.”
She added: “They put public duty first, and they don’t want to see a no-deal Brexit, and if the House of Commons asks them to lead an emergency government to get our country out of this Brexit mess and to stop us driving off that cliff to a no-deal, then yes, they are prepared to do that, and I think that is to their credit.
“It doesn’t need to be them. If Jeremy Corbyn has got another suggestion of an experienced MP who has that respect across the House, let’s talk about it.”
