Tory will meet Labour leader to stop no-deal Brexit but will not help him become PM

Dominic Grieve has said he would not facilitate putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street, saying his intention is to meet the Labour leader to talk only about possible mechanisms to stop no deal.

Corbyn wrote to Grieve, his fellow Conservative MPs Caroline Spelman and Oliver Letwin and the former Tory MP Nick Boles as part of his entreaty on Wednesday to get backing to form a temporary government that would negotiate an extension to article 50 and then call a general election.

In a letter to Corbyn, the four MPs replied: “We agree that our common priority should be to work together in parliament to stop a no-deal Brexit and welcome your invitation to discuss the different ways this might be achieved.”

Their tone was markedly different to that of the Liberal Democrats’ leader, Jo Swinson, who dismissed the idea of Corbyn leading a caretaker government.

Grieve said he had no intention of backing Corbyn’s bid to enter No 10, even on a temporary basis, saying he believed the Labour leader was unsuited to the role of forming a unifying cross-party government.

“As I believe a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic, not just economically but also threatening the future of the United Kingdom, I’m working with like-minded parliamentarians to prevent it happening,” he said.

“In that context, I’m prepared to speak to any parliamentarian who shares that view, including the leader of the opposition. If he is against no deal, I’m happy to talk. That is very different to thinking he is an appropriate figure to lead a government.

“Jeremy Corbyn is unfortunately a deeply divisive figure and in trying to stop a no-deal Brexit it is not my purpose to help him into Downing Street.”

Spelman, who has been one of the leading sponsors of amendments designed to prevent no deal, said on Thursday night she would never vote no confidence in the government or in favour of Corbyn. “I could not support a Corbyn government, end of,” she said.

Other Conservative MPs against no deal made similar positions clear on Friday. The former justice secretary David Gauke tweeted: “If anyone thinks the answer is Jeremy Corbyn, I think they’re probably asking the wrong question.”

However, one Tory MP, Guto Bebb, said he would consider the proposal. “A short-term Jeremy Corbyn government is less damaging than the generational damage that would be caused by a no-deal Brexit,” he told the BBC.

Swinson was quick to dismiss the idea on Wednesday, calling it “a nonsense”, but on Thursday evening she wrote to the Labour leader to discuss how the two parties might work together, after coming under pressure from other opposition leaders including the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

“I’ve always said I wanted to talk to him about it, and I think that dialogue is really important between anyone who wants to stop a no-deal Brexit,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think we have to focus on how we can actually succeed in stopping no deal because the clock is ticking. And I think it is good to talk to other parties – and I’m doing that, I’ve been doing that all summer and, obviously, just before the House of Commons rose for the recess I encouraged Jeremy Corbyn to table a vote of no confidence, which he didn’t do.”

Corbyn said on Friday: “It’s not up to Jo Swinson to choose candidates, it’s not up to Jo Swinson to decide who the next prime minister is going to be. Surely she must recognise she is a leader of one of the opposition parties who are apparently opposed to this government, and apparently prepared to support a motion of no confidence. I look forward to joining her in the lobbies to vote this government down.”

Swinson was criticised by a number of pro-remain Labour politicians for her stance on Thursday, but her position was backed by two former Lib Dem leaders, who told the Guardian her judgment was correct that Corbyn’s plan would not succeed.

Swinson’s predecessor Vince Cable said: “The Lib Dem view is that no party

should be playing self-indulgent games trying to form an alternative government when clearly they don’t have support. It has to be a non-party initiative, led by people who have no ambitions for themselves or their party.”

Tim Farron, who led the party into the 2017 election, called Corbyn’s offer “a transparent and disingenuous power grab that clearly wouldn’t work and [would] only play into Johnson’s hands”.