Ken Clarke slams Theresa May's government over Brexit: 'Nobody knows what they're doing'

Pro-EU: Former chancellor Ken Clarke
Hatty Collier29 September 2016
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Theresa May has “no idea” how to carry out Britain’s exit from the European Union, Tory grandee Ken Clarke said today.

The pro-EU former chancellor said the Prime Minister was running a “Government with no policies” in comments made ahead of the Tory party conference at the weekend.

Mr Clarke told the New Statesman: "Nobody in the Government has the first idea of what they're going to do next on the Brexit front."

He also took a sideswipe at the so-called “three Brexiteers” Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and said the PM was saddled with an “appalling problem” of getting the trio to work together.

Mr Clarke warned the trio, who are tasked with delivering Brexit, that "serious uncertainty in your trading and political relationships with the rest of the world is dangerous if you allow it to persist".

The Conservative Party conference, beginning on Sunday, looks set to be dominated by splits over whether to pursue a so-called "hard Brexit" outside the European single market or to remain in the free trade zone.

The Prime Minister will have trouble maintaining party unity whichever option she takes, Mr Clarke said.

"Whatever is negotiated will be denounced by the ultra-Eurosceptics as a betrayal," he said.

"Theresa May has had the misfortune of taking over at the most impossible time. She faces an appalling problem of trying to get these 'three Brexiteers' to agree with each other."

He also singled out Mr Johnson and his former Vote Leave ally Michael Gove for giving "respectability" to "(Nigel) Farage's arguments that immigration was somehow a great peril caused by the EU".

Mr Clarke made clear he would vote against Brexit in the Commons, if given the opportunity, describing the referendum as an "opinion poll" and David Cameron's decision to call it as "catastrophic".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in