Shropshire Star

MP Owen Paterson will vote against Chequers Brexit plan

MP Owen Paterson has said he will vote against the Prime Minister's Chequers Brexit plan – describing it as a "ghastly cockroach".

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MP Owen Paterson

The North Shropshire Conservative MP made the comments at a meeting of the Eurosceptic Bruges Group, dubbed 'the alternative Tory party conference', where he spoke alongside hard Brexit supporters, Priti Patel and Andrea Jenkyns.

Addressing the crowd at the fringe event being held alongside the Conservative party conference, Mr Paterson confirmed he would vote to defeat Theresa May's Chequers proposal for a Brexit deal.

He said: "Seeing as my whip is here, I will say this: I will vote against Chequers."

The former Northern Ireland Secretary also described the Prime Minister's plan as like "crawling around with a ghastly cockroach".

Mr Paterson used his speech to warn that there would be dangerous consequences for society if Theresa May fails to drop the Chequers plan.

He said: "The damage and disillusion in our institutions if Vote Leave is not delivered in full will be shocking."

The speech came as Tory divisions over Brexit were laid bare with Chancellor Philip Hammond launching a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, dismissing the former foreign secretary's Brexit proposals as "fantasy world" and repeatedly saying he does not expect him to become prime minister.

Asked whether Mr Johnson could become prime minister, Mr Hammond said: "I don't expect it to happen," and suggested Mr Johnson could not do "grown-up politics".

He went on to attack the flamboyant Brexiteer for having "no grasp of detail" on complex subjects like Brexit, suggesting his greatest achievement to date had been introducing the "Boris Bike" cycle scheme while London mayor.

Mr Johnson had used a Sunday Times interview to describe Mrs May's Brexit policy as "deranged" and "preposterous".

In remarks that fuelled speculation about his leadership ambitions, the man who spearheaded the Leave campaign contrasted his position on Brexit with that of Mrs May, who backed Remain, saying: "Unlike the Prime Minister, I fought for this."

Mr Johnson is not speaking from the stage at this year's conference, after walking out of Cabinet in July in protest at the plan agreed at Chequers for the UK's future relationship with the EU.

But his scheduled speech on the fringe of the gathering today is the most hotly-anticipated event of the four-day conference, with widespread expectations he will use it to step up his assault on the PM's plans.