Who says infighting is just reserved for the Labour Party? The recent revelations from David Cameron's camp have exposed the simmering political cleavage in the Conservative Party as well. It's not a small fight but an all-out war at the top level between friends turned foes – former PM Cameron and current PM Theresa May.
The bitter divisions between Cameron and May over Brexit have been revealed in two books about the EU referendum campaign, in which May is described as “lily-livered” and an “enemy agent” by Cameron and his allies.
It is claimed by his aides that Cameron's advisers called May “lily-livered” after she, as then home secretary, failed to support plans to curb EU immigrants coming into Britain. May urged then Prime Minister Cameron not to demand an “emergency brake” in 2014 for fear of upsetting other EU leaders, it is claimed.
However, the May's camp hit back by saying she had always wanted to curb immigration and in fact, supported Cameron.
In extracts from Sir Craig Oliver’s book, Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of the EU Referendum, published in the Mail on Sunday, Cameron’s director of communications says the PM pleaded with May to “come off the fence” about Brexit.
Sir Craig Oliver said the then home secretary failed to back the Remain campaign 13 times and was regarded by some as “an enemy agent”.
The second book, All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class, by Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman, claims Cameron wanted to push for an emergency brake as part of his EU renegotiation. Such a measure could have convinced voters he would be able to reduce immigration if Britain remained in the EU, it argued.
However, Cameron was persuaded against doing so by May and then foreign secretary Philip Hammond, now the chancellor, the book claims.
May feared demanding such a measure would upset German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it says.
The book said a “visibly deflated” Cameron was said to have turned to one official and said: “I can’t do it without their support. If it wasn’t for my lily-livered cabinet colleagues...”
The two books are likely to emphasise divisions within the Conservative Party over Brexit with former Cameron supporters coalescing around the former chancellor, George Osborne, who said last week he wanted to champion the “liberal mainstream majority”.
Meanwhile, Osborne has warned Britain did not vote for ‘hard Brexit’ in the EU referendum and will have to compromise in exit talks.
In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Osborne has warned May not to trigger Article 50 until next autumn. He urged her to use the next 12 months to work out a fully formed plan.
The former chancellor called on May to give the economy priority over migration as she worked out what Brexit should mean.
“Brexit won a majority. Hard Brexit did not. The mainstream majority in our country do not want to be governed from the extremes,” he said.
“I can’t see us consenting to the current arrangements around free movement of people that clearly caused such concern in the referendum,” Osborne said.
“Equally, I find some of the take-or-leave it bravado we hear from those who assume Europe has no option but to give us everything we want more than a little naive.
“We need to be realistic that this is a two-way relationship: that Britain cannot expect to maintain all the benefits that came from EU membership without incurring any of the costs or the obligations. There will have to be compromise.”
Osborne also defended the government’s involvement in Libya and said governments should not be afraid of intervening in crises like Syria.
The involvement in Libya was flayed by the foreign affairs committee earlier this month.
