Brexiter voted for Britain to leave EU but is unhappy May government had not planned to consult parliament

A Conservative MP who has resigned after criticising Theresa May’s handling of the Brexit process has said he could no longer live with being labelled a Conservative.

Stephen Phillips, who voted for Britain to leave the EU, was unhappy that the government had not planned to consult parliament on the Brexit process. He had also become disillusioned with the government’s attitude towards child refugees and changes to how international aid was spent before making his decision to quit as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham in Lincolnshire.

He told senior Conservatives including May of his plans to step down on Wednesday, before the high court ruling on article 50, sources said.

In a letter to George Clark, chairman of the Sleaford and North Hykeham Conservative Association, Phillips said: “Some will label me a quitter or, no doubt, worse. Those are labels with which I can live. The label Conservative no longer is.”

Phillips’s resignation has increased the pressure on the prime minister over the proposed Brexit timetable amid demands from leave supporters that she should call a general election.

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A friend of Phillips said: “[Phillips’s resignation] is about values. The values of this government are not his values. They’ve lurched to the right and become Ukip-lite. He is not.”

The friend added that two of the key issues were “their failure to honour their promises on child refugees [and] the decimation of international aid to the poorest and most vulnerable in the world”.

“Brexit is part of it, because they think they can do what the hell they like without asking parliament. But it’s only a small part of it. It’s the fact that he is not a Conservative in this mould,” the friend said.

A source at No 10, when asked whether Phillips’s resignation had come out of the blue, said “yes”, adding that Phillips and May had not met.

Friends of Phillips said it would be a lie to pretend that his resignation was a surprise, and said he had informed May on Wednesday, as well the deputy chief whip, Ann Milton, and the Conservative party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin.

“The PM has known since Wednesday; and she has known it would be this morning,” the friend said. “It is true that [Phillips] and the PM have not met. But that is because he turned down repeated and panicked requests by the whips for a meeting,” the friend said.

Phillips, one of the highest-paid barristers in the Commons, had privately warned senior Conservative figures that the high court was likely to rule on Thursday that parliament must vote on when the process can begin.

In a statement, Phillips said it had been an honour to serve for six years, but added: “It has become clear to me over the last few months that my growing and very significant policy differences with the current government mean that I am unable properly to represent the people who elected me.”

The prime minister had already lost one Conservative MP when Zac Goldsmith resigned in protest at a decision to allow the expansion of Heathrow airport. His decision triggered a byelection in Richmond Park, south-west London.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Resignation of Phillips follows that of Zac Goldsmith. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

There will now be a second byelection, in Phillips’s safe Conservative seat in the east Midlands, where he secured a 24,000 majority in 2015. The constituency is in the council area of North Kesteven, where 62% of voters backed leaving the EU.

Suzanne Evans, the Ukip leadership candidate, said she was seeking the party’s candidacy for the byelection.

Phillips entered parliament in 2010 with a majority of just under 20,000. In May 2013 he threatened to leave the party if David Cameron backed down on his promise to hold an EU referendum, and he voted to leave on 23 June.



While serving as an MP, he has topped up his salary by £750,000 a year working as a barrister and judge.

Using his legal skills, he has become a lead inquisitor on the public accounts committee, exposing the failings of HMRC in the pursuit of tax cheats, and on Wednesday he mocked Dfid officials over failed £323m plans to begin commercial flights to a remote South Atlantic island.

A Conservative party spokesman said: “Stephen Phillips has been a valuable member of parliament since 2010 and we are sorry that he has chosen to step down.”



Clark said the constituency party was disappointed at his resignation and backed the prime minister.

Meg Hillier, the chair of the public accounts committee, said: “He will be a great loss to the committee. His skill in getting answers for taxpayers will be sorely missed.”