No-deal Brexit: Ken Clarke offers to take over as Prime Minister to ‘sort Brexit out’ The so-called ‘Father of the House’ would become the oldest Prime Minister ever to take office

Veteran Tory MP Ken Clarke has offered to take over as caretaker Prime Minister to “sort out” Brexit.

The former chancellor, 79, said he backed Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson’s proposals for an emergency government to avoid no deal.

Mr Clarke said it was “not inconceivable” that a cross-party coalition would be needed to break the Brexit deadlock, adding he would not be averse to heading up the temporary administration.

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“If they ask me to lead, yes I would lead it,” he said, according to The Telegraph.

Oldest Prime Minister in history

“If it was the only way in which the plain majority in the House of Commons that is opposed to a no-deal exit could find a way forward, I wouldn’t object to it.”

If Mr Clarke were to be appointed, the so-called “Father of the House”, the title given to the longest-serving MP, would become the oldest Prime Minister to take office in history.

In an interview on Friday, he compared the current political climate to the two world wars and 1931, urging the main parties to form a “single-issue, short-term government”.



He added that the two main parties could return to their “old tribalism” afterwards.

Mr Clarke said he only discovered he had been suggested for the role as leader of the makeshift union upon his return from a two-week holiday in Norway.

“There’s an awful lot to be gone through before then and I haven’t been taking part in any talks with anybody for the last fortnight,” he told the BBC.

“I’ve been on the phone to one or two people in the last couple of days just to find out what the devil’s going on.”

Corbyn no-confidence vote

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged that the UK will leave the EU by 31 October “do or die”.



But there has been growing opposition in recent weeks as the prospect of a no deal Brexit looms.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last week revealed his own plot to take over as Prime Minister by attempting to win a no-confidence vote against Mr Johnson.

Mr Corbyn said that if he were to become Prime Minister, he would immediately delay Brexit, call a snap election and campaign for another referendum.

However, MPs believe Mr Corbyn lacks the support in the Commons to win a no-confidence motion.

This article was updated on Sunday 18 September to remove an inaccurate assertion that Ken Clarke would pursue no-deal Brexit if a new deal failed. This correction note was added at 11am on 19 September.