Sat, Dec 7, 2019 Sir John Redwood has dismissed any impact of Sir John Major's latest general election intervention after the former Tory leader urged voters to turn their back on the party because of Brexit.
Sir John Major has urged voters not to back the Conservative Party in the December 12 ballot because of the way the party has handled Brexit. Instead, he suggested people should vote for independent candidates who left the party because of Brexit. The ex-Tory leader said: “Let me make one thing absolutely clear: none of them has left the Conservative Party, the Conservative Party has left them. Without such talent on its benches, Parliament will be the poorer, which is why – if I were resident in any one of their constituencies – they would have my vote.”
But staunch Brexiteer Sir John Redwood appeared on talkRADIO to offer his assessment of the intervention shortly after the Prime Minister said it was "very sad", and that Sir John "is wrong".
Sir John Redwood, who argued Sir John Major's approach to Europe had "destroyed" the party's reputation in the 90s, was asked by radio host Dan Wootton for his thoughts on the election meddling from the former Tory leader.
Mr Wootton said: "You at the party have put Brexit at the heart of your election campaign and you now have your former Prime Minister saying it is the worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime.
"So you can understand why it would be the first thing I ask you about today."
READ MORE: Blair and Major team up with Remainer plot
Sir John said: "I don’t think he will carry a lot of weight with electors.
"He, after all, backed Europe so heavily that he did grave damage to the British economy and we lost a very important election.
"And we were out of office for 13 years as a result of all it all. I wasn't his rival. I was his critic. I told him not to follow the European economic policy which he followed.
"I told him it would cause a major recession. It did. And it destroyed the Conservatives' reputation for economic good management for some 13 years."
Sir John contended it was "only when Labour did something worse" that the Tories were "trusted again in power".
He added: "But this isn't about me. This is about what voters want to hear about the general election and I am proud of our message. We want to get Brexit done. We want to move on to improving our public services."
Responding to news of Sir John Major's intervention the Prime Minister was unequivocal in his condemnation.
He told reporters at a rally in Maidstone, Kent: "I think it's very sad and I think that he is wrong.
"And I think that he represents a view that is outdated, alas, greatly that I respect him and his record, and I think that what we need to do now is honour the will of the people and get Brexit done."
Sir John, 76, was in Number 10 from 1990 to 1997. In a pre-recorded speech ahead of the Stop the Brexit Landslide rally Sir John told Remainers "tribal loyalties" were being loosened by Brexit.
Joining forces with former Labour leader and Remainer Tony Blair, Sir John described Brexit as the "worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime", and will say leaving the EU will affect "nearly every single aspect of our lives for many decades to come".
At the same event Remainer Mr Blair said: "This Conservative Party which now expels the likes of Michael Heseltine, disowns the statesmanship of John Major, a party whose chancellor as of July this year is now exiled in the wilderness for the temerity to say what he knows to be true, namely that a no deal Brexit is a risk no responsible Government would take, such a Conservative Party does not deserve to govern unchecked and the country would not be wise to let them.
"It's not Brexit that's getting done. We're getting done. This is the final chance for a final say. It's not one General Election but 650 individual ones. Think long. Think hard. Time to choose. Choose wisely."
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1214240/Brexit-news-John-Redwood-John-Major-general-election-2019-latest-news
