Tory minister blasts Brexiteers for 'tarnishing' party amid claims Conservative MPs could quit
Tobias Ellwood attacks the European Research Group and adds to speculation Tory MPs could defect to join a new independent group.
Tuesday 19 February 2019 18:52, UK
A Conservative minister has warned Tory eurosceptics they are "tarnishing" the party, amid reports a trio of MPs could quit and join a new independent grouping in parliament.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood attacked the European Research Group (ERG) of Conservative Brexiteers for their actions, which he claimed were threatening to "poison" the party.
He also added to speculation Tory MPs could join a group of seven former Labour MPs, who this week walked out of their party and formed a new group in the House of Commons.
Mr Ellwood suggested it would be difficult for him to remain in the Conservative Party if the ERG's "viewpoint" took prominence.
The ERG, chaired by leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, rejected the prime minister's EU withdrawal agreement last month and has since pressured the government to keep a no-deal Brexit as an option.
Their actions have frequently been criticised by fellow Tory MPs, who are opposed to the UK's exit from the EU or are seeking closer ties with the bloc.
Adding to the censure of the ERG, Mr Ellwood told Sky News: "There are many of us who normally would not be commenting in public about a wing of our party or, indeed, individuals themselves.
"We are doing so because they are coming to the point of tarnishing the actual brand of the party and I want to remain inside a modern, compassionate, inclusive, outward-looking party that's attractive to the next generation.
"That's not possible with the viewpoint of the ERG as a bloc continuing in its way. Not individuals, but as a bloc, that's what I'm concerned about.
"And many of my colleagues are and that's why we've chosen, which is quite out of character and unprecedented, to step forward and say 'no, not in our name'.
"We will not allow that branding to affect, to poison the moderate perspective of the centre-right Conservative Party."
Asked what action he could take, Mr Ellwood said a group of Tory MPs are "standing up to say we signed up to a higher cause of what the party actually looks like".
"With humility, I say that to the ERG as well," he added.
"They signed up to be part of a Conservative Party, and that must come first above the views of the ERG."
Mr Ellwood also again refused to rule out resigning from government in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major added to attacks on the ERG, some of whom he branded "zealots", in a speech at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday night.
He said: "In parliament, the European Research Group has become a party within a party, with its own whips, its own funding and its own priorities.
"Some of its more extreme members have little or no affinity to moderate, pragmatic and tolerant Conservatism.
"The ERG does not represent a majority view but - with a minority Government, as now - can determine policy simply by being intransigent: which is precisely what it is doing."
Sir John added: "The Conservative Party membership appears to be 'hollowing out' traditional Conservatives, while former UKIP members strengthen the anti-European Right of the party."
Following the dramatic defection of seven Labour MPs on Monday, it has been suggested Tory MPs could follow suit.
Anti-Brexit MPs Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen, who all support a second EU referendum, have been named as possible Conservative defectors.
On Monday, Ms Soubry retweeted a video of Chuka Umunna, one of those to quit Labour, in which he stated: "You don't join a political party to spend years fighting the people within it."
Meanwhile, Dr Wollaston attacked what she branded "Blukip" for having been "busy taking over the Tory party alongside the ERG".
"Soon there will be nothing left at all to appeal to moderate centre ground voters," she added.
And Ms Allen recently co-authored an article with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, in which they called for "a more cooperative, co-productive, and compassionate politics".
None of the trio have commented on reports they could quit the Conservative Party.