BREXIT has made Tory MPs unhinged, a Tory MP has claimed.
Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics that the thought of leaving the EU was making the fanatical Brexiteers in his party hysterical.
“I do sometimes think that some of my colleagues have become unhinged actually, not the PM.
“The PM’s problem is that she’s surrounded by people who get louder and more strident by the moment as some of the inevitable problems, which were going to come with Brexit, start to make themselves apparent.”
Grieve, a QC, who is well regarded by MPs across the house, has annoyed many in his party by being pragmatic, and methodically pointing out many of the practical problems of leaving the EU.
He was asked publicly if disagreeing with colleagues had been uncomfortable. He said: “Of course I feel in one way uncomfortable, parties are held together by ties of affection and loyalty more than anything else.
“It’s very important to be polite and it’s very important to listen if you’re going to have a disagreement.
“But equally there does come a point in these processes where the risk that you start to run is that you’re just being bullied into silence and I think the last week has shown to me that that risk is very apparent.
“Some of my colleagues get death threats. All these are at least in part generated by the sort of media coverage that is being given and cranking up the tension, the excitement, the hysteria, presumably because it sells copy.
“This isn’t a good way of making rational decisions.”
Grieve also said up to 27 Tory MPs could oppose the Prime Minister’s proposal to put the Brexit date of March 29 2019 into law. Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond says Britain will make an offer to settle their “divorce bill” with Brussels in the next month.
Earlier this week, the European Council president Donald Tusk has set a deadline of the start of December for Britain to make further movement on the divorce bill and Irish border in order to unlock trade talks.
The Chancellor said he was sure the Government would make its offer in time for the December 14-15 European Council summit to try and persuade EU leaders to declare “sufficient progress” has been made for trade negotiations to begin.
“The Prime Minister is clear that we will meet our obligations to the European Union and as you know, we want to make progress in the discussions at the December Council at the European Union and the Europeans have asked us for more clarity on what we mean by meeting our obligations,” Hammond told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show.
“We will make our proposals to the European Union in time for the Council, I am sure about that.”
Hammond promised Britain would honour its debts but also “negotiate hard” on the various aspects relating to the financial settlement.
“It’s not about demands, it’s about what is properly due from the UK to the European Union under international law in accordance with the European treaties,” he said.
“And we have always been clear it won’t be easy to work out that number, but whatever is due we will pay, we are a nation that honours our debts.
“And of course we will negotiate hard whether there is any question, any doubt about whether an item is payable or not.”
Theresa May has already offered €20bn (£17.85?billion), but reports have suggested she will offer a further €20bn to €40bn.
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