The Conservative Party would be committing “political suicide” if it tried to force through a no-deal Brexit this autumn as that would trigger a general election it would lose, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned.
The Tory leadership candidate said it was clear from the weekend’s European parliamentary election results that his party would be “annihilated” if it fought a general election before Brexit is done.
“Attacked by the Brexit Party on the right and the Liberal Democrats on the left, we will face extinction,” Hunt wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph.
He took aim at rivals for the Tory leadership such as Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Esther McVey who have indicated they would pull Britain out of the EU on October 31 regardless of whether the U.K. had a deal.
“Any prime minister who promised to leave the EU by a specific date — without the time to renegotiate and pass a new deal — would, in effect, be committing to a general election the moment parliament tried to stop it,” Hunt wrote, adding: “Trying to deliver no deal through a general election is not a solution; it is political suicide” that would “probably put [Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn in No. 10 by Christmas.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Today program, Hunt said he was making the argument “because I want to solve the Brexit crisis we’re in, and I’m worried that if we don’t solve it we will face a political crisis that is far bigger than our relationship with the European Union” and which “could lead to the destruction of our party system and the end of my own party.”
“We must not go back to the electorate asking for their mandate until we’ve delivered what we promised we’d do last time, which is to deliver Brexit. It would be absolutely catastrophic for us as a party, and that’s why I think it’s very important that we are honest with ourselves about the situation that we face and we find a different way to get a deal” than setting a hard date for Brexit now.
He said the Tories would be “severely punished” if there was a general election.
Hunt also said there should be a new Brexit negotiating team, including representatives from the Democratic Unionist Party, the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tories, but not the Labour Party “because the Labour Party front bench have shown they aren’t prepared to act in good faith on this.”
And Nigel Farage?
“He’s not in parliament and he doesn’t want a deal.”
Also on the Today program was Justice Secretary David Gauke, who said of Hunt’s op-ed: “I think he makes a very good point. I do think that if we were to try to pursue a no-deal Brexit, I mean we can’t take it off the table, but if we were to try to pursue it, then I think that there are real risks for the country most importantly of all, but I don’t think that’s the right position for the Conservative Party to be in.
“We have to be responsible, we have to understand the impact on the economy, and we have to understand the parliamentary arithmetic.”
Hunt is one of many contenders for the Tory leadership. Asked if he would be part of a Boris Johnson government, Hunt said: “I would be delighted to serve him.”