A Conservative battle is underway for the chairmanship of parliament’s powerful Treasury committee, with Jacob Rees-Mogg, the rightwing arch-Brexiter, pitted against Nicky Morgan, the leader of the fight for a soft Brexit.

The pair’s contrasting candidacies for the position came to light on Friday afternoon as nominations closed for the chairmanships of the various parliamentary committees that are tasked with scrutinising government policy. The prestigious role is vacant after Andrew Tyrie, the longstanding chair of the House of Commons Treasury committee, retired at the election.

It means his successor will lead scrutiny of the direction of the government’s economic policy as it grapples with the impact of Brexit, a worsening outlook and pressure on Philip Hammond, the chancellor, to ease austerity.

Morgan, who has the support of five Labour MPs along with a number of her more centrist Tory colleagues and Brexiter Michael Gove, would be the biggest thorn in the side of Theresa May. A former education secretary and Treasury minister, she has effectively led the charge among Conservative moderates against a hard exit from the EU.

In contrast, Rees-Mogg is known for his hardline views on wanting to leave the EU and reducing the foreign aid budget. He is backed by a number of Tory rightwingers such as Philip Davies, John Whittingdale and Esther McVey, as well as enjoying the unexpected support of some MPs on the left including the SNP’s Mhairi Black and Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi.

Morgan said she wanted the job as it “will be more important than ever to forge a wide consensus on Brexit and for parliament to question ministers on their decisions”, while Rees-Mogg said he would put his “strong views” on Brexit aside in order to “achieve consensus and balance”.

If there are orchestrated campaigns to stop either candidate from winning, MPs may rally round one of the other choices, including John Penrose, a former minister influential in the European Reform Group of pro-Brexit MPs; Stephen Hammond, a former transport minister; Richard Bacon, a veteran backbencher; or Charlie Elphicke, a former whip.

It will be one of several tussles over committee chairmanships in the next week, with candidates campaigning for the support of both party colleagues and opposition rivals ahead of a vote of MPs on Wednesday.

After the nominations closed on Friday afternoon, it emerged very few women had put themselves forward for the big Conservative contests for committee chairs. The Treasury shortlist only had one woman out of six candidates – Morgan – while the education, defence, foreign affairs, environment and Northern Ireland committees had no female candidates.



Half a dozen Tory MPs, including four former ministers, will battle for control of the education committee amid a policy vacuum following May’s decision to abandon expansion of grammar schools and ditch a plan to scrap free school meals, while proceeding with a shake-up of school funding that has caused consternation on the Tory benches. The frontrunners are Nick Boles, a former schools minister who has recently recovered from cancer; Robert Halfon, a former skills minister known for arguing the Tories should pay attention to “white van” Conservatives; and Tim Loughton, a former children’s minister.

These posts are earmarked for Conservatives but there are several Labour battles as well, including a contest between Rachel Reeves and Liam Byrne, both former shadow work and pensions secretaries, for control of the Commons committee on business, energy and industrial strategy. Ian Lucas and Albert Owen are also jostling for the role.

There is another Labour competition for the chair of the communities and local government committee, with David Lammy, a former minister, challenging its longstanding incumbent Clive Betts. The post will be crucial given the inquiries and scrutiny essential in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster.

The environment committee has also attracted a number of candidates, most controversially Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP who won his seat again in June after losing it in a byelection called after he resigned in protest at Heathrow expansion. Wes Streeting, the Labour MP, suggested Goldsmith should first apologise for the campaign he ran as a candidate against Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan, which was at the time branded Islamophobic. Other Tory contestants for the role are the incumbent, Neil Parish, and Bill Wiggin, a former whip.



Dr Julian Lewis, a veteran backbencher, is also facing a challenge to his chairmanship of the defence committee from Johnny Mercer, a former soldier who has been a Tory MP for just two years.

Likewise, Crispin Blunt, who was chair of the foreign affairs committee in the last parliament, is being opposed by John Baron, a Tory MP who has led rebellions against foreign military interventions, and Tom Tugendhat, a relatively new MP who is also a former army officer.

In contrast, a number of former chairs were elected to their old roles unopposed, including Dr Sarah Wollaston on the health committee, Yvette Cooper on home affairs, Hilary Benn on Brexit, Frank Field on work and pensions, and Meg Hillier on public accounts.