Tory sacked as government adviser explains why he led Lords rebellion – and is chastised for comment about PM

Michael Heseltine has said after being sacked from the government that he will continue to fight against Britain leaving the EU – and has been been chastised on television for saying Theresa May has a “man-sized” job to do.

The Conservative former deputy prime minister lost his five government jobs for leading a Lords rebellion over Brexit. He said he had to keep opposing a policy he thought was wrong, just as the Brexiters would never have stopped fighting to leave the EU if the referendum result had gone the other way.

Lord Heseltine, 83, was sacked from his advisory roles on Tuesday night after he gave a prominent speech in favour of giving parliament a veto over the outcome of May’s Brexit talks with Brussels.

Explaining that he had never met May as prime minister, he told Sky News’s Sarah-Jane Mee: “I don’t in any way criticise her for this. She has got a man-sized job to do and she’s very busy.”

“She’s got a man-sized job? It’s a woman-sized job now,” Mee said, pointing out it was International Women’s Day. Heseltine replied: “I find myself chastised by you, and you are quite right.”



Speaking earlier on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Heseltine said he was disappointed that the government would lose his expertise. Explaining his decision to keep opposing Brexit, he said: “My preoccupation has been from the very beginning I believe the referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result we have seen in this country.”

House of Lords defeats government for second time on article 50 bill Read more

Heseltine said he had been “meticulous” in not speaking to the press since the referendum result but added: “The point comes in life that you have to do what I believe to be right.



“I know these Brexiteers backwards. I have lived with them in government and opposition. They never give up. Why shouldn’t people like me argue in the other camp?”

Former Conservative chief whip Mark Harper said that it was “quite reasonable” to sack Lord Heseltine for opposing government policy.

Late on Tuesday, the House of Lords passed the Brexit bill, giving May the right to trigger article 50, after insisting on two changes: a guarantee of the rights of EU citizens to reside in the UK and a more meaningful parliamentary vote at the end of Brexit talks.



Attention now switches to the Commons, where MPs will consider whether to keep or throw out the amendments.

A band of Tory MPs is pushing May to make concessions on giving parliament a more meaningful say at the end of the two-year negotiations. But the government has insisted it wants to overturn the Lords amendments, saying it would be against the national interest to tell EU countries that parliament would have a right of veto over any deal.