Former PM calls for ‘a little more charm, and a lot less cheap rhetoric’ and says public have been given unrealistic expectations

Theresa May’s government must avoid souring the article 50 negotiations with “cheap rhetoric” and give voters an honest warning about the risks of Brexit, the former prime minister Sir John Major has said.

With the prime minister planning to begin the formal process of leaving the European Union within weeks, her predecessor used his first big speech on Brexit since last year’s referendum to issue a series of thinly veiled attacks on Downing Street’s approach.

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“I have watched with growing concern as the British people have been led to expect a future that seems to be unreal and over-optimistic,” Major said, speaking at the Chatham House thinktank. “Obstacles are brushed aside as of no consequence, whilst opportunities are inflated beyond any reasonable expectation of delivery.”

He urged May’s government to be “realistic about the timescale and complexity of the huge undertaking that lies ahead”.

May has struck a combative tone in advance of the critical talks, pledging to deliver a “red, white and blue Brexit” and warning the other 27 EU member states that Britain will fight back by cutting tax and regulation if it is offered a poor deal.

But Major urged the government to take a more emollient approach. “In my own experience, the most successful results are obtained when talks are conducted with goodwill,” he said. “It is much easier to reach agreement with a friend than a quarrelsome neighbour.

“Behind the diplomatic civilities, the atmosphere is already sour. A little more charm, and a lot less cheap rhetoric, would do much to protect the UK’s interests.”

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, told a German newspaper recently that if offered a raw deal by the other 27 member states, Britain was “not going to lie down and say, ‘Too bad, we’ve been wounded.’ We will change our model.”

Major said a shift to a low-tax, more deregulated economy, trading on World Trade Organisation rules – as some Brexiters would like – would mean a fundamental rewriting of the economic rules that would be unlikely to win the public’s backing.



“There is a choice to be made, a price to be paid,” he said. “We cannot move to a radical enterprise economy without moving away from a welfare state. Such a direction of policy, once understood by the public, would never command support. It would make all previous rows over social policy seem a minor distraction.”

A No 10 source said: “The government is determined to make a success of our departure from the European Union – and to move beyond the language of leave and remain to unite our country.

“The prime minister set out her twelve negotiating objectives for Brexit in January. We have a clear plan to get the best deal for the United Kingdom and are going to get on with the job of delivering it.”

Another government source described Major, whose administration was rocked by Conservative divisions over Europe, as “yesterday’s man”.

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Pro-Brexit MPs reacted angrily to the speech, especially the former prime minister’s suggestion that May would eventually have to face down the right wing of her own party. Jacob Rees-Mogg said Major was wrong to condemn the referendum result as a “historic mistake”.

“I can understand why the man who led the Conservatives to its worst defeat in the best part of a hundred years is upset with the electorate. I think it’s essentially bitterness: they rejected him and they rejected the European Union,” Rees-Mogg said.



Major, who has only rarely involved himself in frontline politics since stepping down as MP for Huntingdon in 2001, also used his speech to express concerns about the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe, which he said had been given a fillip by the Brexit vote.

“I caution everyone to be wary of this kind of populism,” he said. “It seems to be a mixture of bigotry, prejudice and intolerance. It scapegoats minorities. It is a poison in any political system – destroying civility and decency and understanding. Here in the UK we should give it short shrift, for it is not the people we are – nor the country we are.”

He also warned about the impact of Brexit on the special relationship with the US. “Outside the European Union, we become far more dependent upon the United States and – for four and possibly eight years – upon a president less predictable, less reliable and less attuned to our free-market and socially liberal instincts than any of his predecessors,” he said.

His language was in stark contrast with that of May herself, who was the first world leader to visit Donald Trump in the White House, where she spoke of their shared values, and announced that he had accepted an invitation from the Queen for a state visit later this year.

Major also spoke out in defence of remain campaigners and MPs, who have been criticised and accused of trying to thwart “the will of the people” for voicing their doubts about the consequences of Brexit.

“Freedom of speech is absolute in our country,” he said. “It’s not arrogant or brazen or elitist, or remotely delusional to express concern about our future after Brexit. Nor, by doing so, is this group undermining the will of the people; they are the people. Shouting down their legitimate comment is against all our traditions of tolerance. It does nothing to inform and everything to demean – and it is time it stopped.”

He was speaking as peers debate the article 50 bill in the House of Lords, where it is going through its committee stage, with the government seeking to defeat a series of amendments on issues including the status of EU nationals living in the UK and the need for a meaningful parliamentary vote at the end of the negotiations.