What happened inside that No.10 meeting?
Theresa May held a longer than usual meeting at Downing Street yesterday, where senior Tories put forward a range of views about the current state of Brexit. No 10 reported the conversation that took place on Tuesday as ‘impassioned’, though details were vague on any progress being made. Others described them as a row
Those in attendance at the meeting included Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary; Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury; and Michael Gove, the agriculture secretary, and David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister.
Lidington reportedly told his colleagues that he was terrified at the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, comparing the outcome to Black Wednesday, the crisis which saw a Tory government forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
One source reported Sajid David as having “visibly annoyed” Theresa May by mentioning his concern at the way she had presented the transition period extension to the Commons. Downing Street later denied this particular claim, originally reported by a Guardian source.
After the meeting, Theresa May confirmed that she would be attending a meeting of the 1922 committee on Wednesday, where she will face questions from backbenchers behind closed doors.
On Monday, Theresa May brought her latest update on Brexit to the Commons, where she urged her fellow MPs to “hold their nerve”. The latest developments take place in the wake of several MPs voicing their concerns publicly about the PM’s Brexit approach.
MPs vote in favour of legalising abortion in Northern Ireland
MPs have voted in favour of legalising abortion in Northern Ireland after many Conservative MPs broke ranks to support the vote.
The new bill was first introduced by Labour MP Diana Johnson, and seeks to scrap 157-year-old laws that make the practice illegal.
Whilst this vote in the Commons is unlikely to be the push that sees it enshrined in law, it does display the massive demand for the change seen in the country. Additionally, it creates a potential problem for Theresa May – despite support from MPs, the prime minister will likely insist, as she has done before, that the area is for Northern Ireland to decide.
Three Tory MPs quit Bercow’s committee
Three Tory MPs: Anne Milton, the Tory whip, Mims Davies, and Will Quince, a private secretary in the Ministry of Defence, have resigned from a committee chaired by John Bercow on representation and inclusion, the day before he is due to attend a meeting to address harassment of parliamentary staff.
The MPs cited failure to tackle Westminster bullying as their reason for stepping down, with Will Quince saying Bercow was “not the right person” to lead the committee in light of recent reports – Bercow has recently been the subject of bullying claims himself.
The House of Commons commission is due to meet today to address the Westminster bullying inquiry, which involved various people, and led to Dame Laura Cox suggesting senior management should step down. Not long after, Bercow announced he will be stepping down as Commons speaker next summer.
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