Tory leadership hopeful Rory Stewart says a citizens’ assembly of 500 members of the public paid to sit seven days a week could draw up a Brexit withdrawal deal palatable to the U.K. parliament.
“If we had a citizens’ assembly they would be able to do what parliament has failed to do: step back, put party politics aside and look at a sensible resolution to this,” he told the Guardian in an interview, saying he would convene the group on his first day in No. 10 Downing Street.
Stewart ruled out pursuing a no-deal Brexit if he wins the race to succeed Theresa May when she steps down on June 7, saying: “You need a Brexit deal to last for 40 years — the danger of [revoking Article 50] or no deal is that you end up in a very unstable situation.”
In a separate interview with the Times published Wednesday, Stewart took aim at one of his rivals for the Tory leadership, Jeremy Hunt, saying the foreign secretary “believes that threatening Europe with no deal is like trying to buy a car by threatening to blow your head off with a gun. ‘Drop the price or I’ll shoot myself.’ That’s not a good negotiating strategy,” Stewart said. “You don’t threaten someone with something that they know perfectly well you probably can’t do.”
His comments came after Hunt said Tuesday that the Conservatives would be “annihilated” if they sought to push through a no-deal Brexit, while adding that the option couldn’t be ruled out.
Stewart also hit out at another leadership rival, Boris Johnson, in response to anonymous comments in the media suggesting the international development secretary is a “suicide bomber” candidate who is running only to clear the path for Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s bid.
“The fact these guys are using the word ‘suicide bomber’ … I can’t think of who else, a leading figure in British politics, who might use such a phrase, ‘suicide bomber,’” Stewart said, seemingly referring to Johnson, who once called Theresa May’s Brexit plan a “suicide vest.”
Another contender for the leadership, Matt Hancock, also took aim at Johnson, who reportedly dismissed industry concerns about Brexit by saying “F*ck business.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, the health secretary said: “To the people who say ‘f*ck business,’ I say ‘f*ck f*ck business.'”
Hancock also said he would not pursue a no-deal Brexit because Commons Speaker John Bercow would not allow it.
“I think the speaker would facilitate a majority in the House of Commons who are opposed to no deal in exactly the same way as he did in the run-up to 29th March,” Hancock said. “The brutal reality is, no deal is not a policy choice available to the next prime minister.”
Bercow said he will remain in post rather than stepping down this summer as widely expected. Speaking to the Guardian following an event in Washington, Bercow said it is not “sensible to vacate the chair” while “momentous events are taking place” — a signal that he will not stand down until Brexit is resolved.