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Guerra
tomou conta dos tories e imigração é a última arma de arremesso
ANA FONSECA PEREIRA
29/05/2016 – PÚBLICO
Ministros
atacam Downing Street, deputados avisam Cameron que os seus dias
podem estar contados, ganha ou vença o referendo à UE. Campanha
pelo "Brexit" acusa Cameron de não ter cumprido promessa
de reduzir chegada de imigrantes ao país.
Já não é possível
esconder o clima de guerra que se apoderou do Partido Conservador
britânico, dividido a meio sobre a permanência do Reino Unido na
União Europeia e corroído por uma retórica cada vez mais
incendiária de parte a parte. Boris Johnson e Michael Gove, os dois
principais rostos da campanha pela saída, lançaram neste domingo
uma nova acha na fogueira ao exigirem que o primeiro-ministro, David
Cameron, reconheça o “fracasso” da promessa que fez em 2010 de
reduzir a imigração para o país.
A pouco mais de três
semanas do referendo à UE, a 23 de Junho, é cada vez mais difícil
perceber como vão os tories reparar as feridas abertas por esta
campanha, numa altura em que é já o futuro de Cameron à frente do
partido que se discute.
“Ganhe ou perca
este referendo, David Cameron está provavelmente condenado como
líder do partido”, disse ao jornal Telegraph o deputado Andrew
Bridgen, um dos primeiros a quebrar o tabu sobre a provável rebelião
que espera o primeiro-ministro a 24 de Junho. Pouco antes, a também
deputada Nadine Dorries acusou Cameron de “mentir profundamente”
e avisou-o que os seus dias à frente do partido podem estar
contados, ganha ou vença a consulta.
“Se o país votar
pela saída da UE, ele deveria demitir-se – e provavelmente
fá-lo-á. Mas o seu Project Fear [designação usada pelos
opositores para denunciar as tácticas da campanha a favor da UE]
enfureceu tantos colegas conservadores que mesmo que o resultado seja
pela permanência, ele irá quase de certeza enfrentar um voto de
censura”, afirmou o deputado. Para desencadear a votação é
apenas preciso que 50 deputados a peçam por escrito e, apesar de os
analistas acreditarem que Cameron conseguiria sobreviver à moção
no caso de vencer confortavelmente o referendo, ser-lhe-á difícil
voltar a contar com o apoio de deputados com quem se
incompatibilizou.
A imprensa britânica
adianta que 30 deputados terão já dado esse primeiro passo, mas em
público Bridgen e Dorries estão para já em minoria – os
dirigentes do partido que se posicionaram contra a UE repetem que o
lugar do primeiro-ministro não está em causa neste referendo. O que
não significa que sejam mais dóceis nas palavras que dirigem a
Cameron e aos seus aliados, ao ponto de ser agora possível ver
alguns dos seus ministros a pôr publicamente em causa a actuação
do Governo.
Do outro lado, a
intensidade retórica não é menor, com Downing Street a acusar a
campanha contrária de falta de credibilidade e até de oportunismo
político – uma crítica pouco velada ao ex-mayor de Londres, Boris
Johnson, potencial candidato à sucessão de Cameron. Um membro do
Governo, que falou ao Telegraph sob anonimato, disse ser provável
que o primeiro-ministro se desfaça dos ministros que fizeram
campanha contra ele mal o referendo termine. “Ele vai metralhá-los
a todos. Para os ministros “pró-Brexit” [esta campanha] vai ser
‘matar ou morrer'.”
Com os últimos
resquícios de civilidade atirados ao chão, coube a Johnson e Gove
lançar um dos ataques mais duros contra Cameron, de quem ambos se
dizem amigos. Numa carta aberta publicada no Sunday Times, assinada
também pela deputada trabalhista Gisela Stuart, exigem ao
primeiro-ministro que reconheça que a promessa, feita em 2010, de
reduzir o saldo migratório (diferença entre entradas e saídas no
país) para menos de cem mil pessoas “simplesmente não pode ser
cumprida enquanto o Reino Unido for membro da UE”. “O fracasso em
manter esta promessa é corrosivo para a confiança pública na
política”, escrevem os responsáveis.
Encurralados no
debate sobre as consequências económicas da ruptura com Bruxelas –
um inquérito encomendado pelo jornal Observer junto de 600
economistas conclui que nove em cada dez acreditam que o “Brexit”
afectará as perspectivas de crescimento dos próximos cinco anos –
Johnson e os seus aliados tentam centrar o debate em torno da
imigração. E os números divulgados na última semana pelo gabinete
de estatísticas britânico foram ouro sobre azul, ao revelarem que
em 2015 chegaram ao país mais 330 mil pessoas do que as que saíram,
o segundo valor mais alto desde que os dados começaram a ser
compilados, em 1975. Destes, 184 mil foram cidadãos comunitários,
beneficiários da livre circulação na UE, um número que iguala o
anterior recorde.
Downing Street
respondeu que a carta foi uma nova “tentativa para distrair” os
eleitores do consenso alargado sobre as consequências “desastrosas”
de uma saída da UE. Mas os adversários não desarmam.
Num artigo para o
Sunday Telegraph que expõe o quão azeda está a convivência no
Governo, a secretária de Estado do Emprego, Priti Patel, escreve que
os líderes da campanha pelo “sim” não compreendem as
preocupações dos britânicos comuns, “que têm cada vez mais
dificuldade em inscrever os filhos nas escolas, que enfrentam cada
vez mais competição no acesso ao trabalho e vêem os salários a
baixar”. Não nomeia Cameron nem o seu ministro das Finanças,
George Osborne, nascidos ambos em famílias privilegiadas, mas afirma
que só quem tem “fortuna pessoal” se pode “dar ao luxo de
pagar as alternativas que não estão ao alcance dos mais
vulneráveis”.
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Tory
MPs escalate party turmoil with open call for Cameron to quit
Andrew
Bridgen says Conservatives so fractured over EU that fresh election
needed, while Nadine Dorries says prime minister ‘has lied
profoundly
Andrew Sparrow
Political correspondent
@AndrewSparrow
Sunday 29 May 2016
14.17 BST
David Cameron’s
hopes of being able to avoid terminal damage to Conservative party
unity after the EU referendum campaign were dented on Sunday when two
rebel MPs openly called for a new leader and a general election
before Christmas.
The attacks came
from Andrew Bridgen and Nadine Dorries – both Brexiters, and
longstanding, publicity-hungry opponents of the prime minister –
and their claim that even winning the EU referendum won’t stop
Cameron facing a leadership challenge in the summer was dismissed by
fellow Tories.
But their comments
coincided with the ministers in charge of the leave campaign
launching some of their strongest personal attacks yet on Cameron,
prompting Labour’s Alan Johnson to say that the Tory infighting was
getting “very ugly indeed”.
Bridgen told the
BBC’s 5 Live that Cameron had been making “outrageous” claims
in his bid to persuade voters to back remain and that, as a
consequence, he had effectively lost his parliamentary majority.
“The party is
fairly fractured, straight down the middle and I don’t know which
character could possibly pull it back together going forward for an
effective government. I honestly think we probably need to go for a
general election before Christmas and get a new mandate from the
people,” he said.
Bridgen said at
least 50 Tory MPs – the number needed to call a confidence vote –
felt the same way about Cameron and that a vote on the prime
minister’s future was “probably highly likely” after the
referendum.
Dorries told ITV’s
Peston on Sunday she had already submitted her letter to the chairman
of the Tory backbench 1922 committee expressing no confidence in the
prime minister.
“[Cameron] has
lied profoundly, and I think that is actually really at the heart of
why Conservative MPs have been so angered. To say that Turkey is not
going to join the European Union as far as 30 years is a lie.”
A leadership contest
would only take place if Cameron lost a confidence vote, which would
be unlikely if the remain campaign wins the referendum. But a
sizeable vote against Cameron in a confidence ballot could still
prove fatal to his premiership, forcing him to accelerate plans for
his departure.
Dorries said that if
remain won 60/40, Cameron would probably survive. “If remain win by
a narrow majority, or if leave win, he’s toast within days,” she
said.
Even if, as many
Tories expect, a confidence vote does not materialise, the
Bridgen/Dorries comments are a reminder of how maverick, hardline
Eurosceptics were able to play havoc with John Major’s government
in the 1990s because he had such a small majority. Cameron’s
working majority is just 16.
The Conservative MP
Steve Baker said Bridgen “[had] a point” about how unsympathetic
backbenchers were towards Cameron’s EU stance. Baker claimed only
about 30 were very strongly committed to remain – and he said he
thought there could be “a problem” for the prime minister after
23 June.
But more senior
figures in Tory Brexit camp backed Cameron and insisted a confidence
vote would not happen because the rebels would not get enough
support.
“I don’t think
there are 50 colleagues gunning for the prime minister,” said Chris
Grayling, the justice secretary. “I can assure you that those
people who fought to win their seats 12 months ago are definitely not
gunning for a general election by Christmas.”
Graham Brady, the
chair of the 1922 committee, said Bridgen’s intervention was
“unfortunate” and that the party had to pull together after the
referendum.
Liam Fox, the former
defence secretary, said the party would need “a period of
stability” after the referendum and that it would be best for
Cameron to stay as prime minister. Iain Duncan Smith, the former work
and pensions secretary, also said he was not in favour of replacing
Cameron.
In a particularly
personal attack that seemed clearly aimed at Cameron and the
chancellor, George Osborne, Priti Patel, the employment minister,
used an article in the Sunday Telegraph to say it was “shameful”
that wealthy remain campaigners did not realise how much harm mass
immigration was doing to the poor.
“If you have
private wealth or if you work for Goldman Sachs you’ll be fine. But
when public services are under pressure, it is those people who do
not have the luxury of being able to afford the alternatives who are
most vulnerable,” she wrote.
“It’s shameful
that those leading the pro-EU campaign fail to care for those who do
not have their advantages.”
Patel’s article
coincided with Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, and Michael
Gove, the justice secretary, writing an open letter to Cameron asking
him to accept that it would be impossible for him to achieve his
manifesto promise of getting net migration below 100,000 if the UK
stayed in the EU. The letter, also signed by Labour’s Gisela
Stuart, said failure to keep this promise “is corrosive of public
trust”.
A source close to
Cameron said that there was now overwhelming evidence, backed up by
Sunday’s Observer survey of economists, that leaving the EU would
cause a “serious economic shock” and that “the suggestion that
crashing your economy is the best way of dealing with immigration is
clearly nonsense”.
Commenting on the
Tory turmoil, Alan Johnson, chair of Labour In for Britain, said:
“What is extraordinary is the vindictiveness and nastiness we are
seeing within the Conservative party and Conservative cabinet. I
think it’s very ugly, very ugly indeed. If those are David
Cameron’s friends and allies, he’s welcome to them.”
Andrew Bridgen, Tory
MP for North West Leicestershire since 2010, has form as a critic of
David Cameron’s. In 2013 he publicly admitted that he had sent a
letter to the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee
calling for a vote of confidence in his leader.
Explaining his
decision in a newspaper article, he said there was a “credibility
problem” with Cameron.
“The voters think
we have many of the right messages – they just don’t believe the
messenger. In some cases, the messages are wrong or badly handled. By
pressing ahead with gay marriage and delaying a promise on an EU
referendum until he was forced to do so, Mr Cameron has fuelled the
rise of Ukip. We have created our own nemesis,” he wrote.
“I think the
situation is this: it’s like being in an aeroplane. The pilot
doesn’t know how to land it. We can either do something about it
before the crash, or sit back, watch the in-flight movies and wait
for the inevitable.”
At the time Bridgen
was one of only two Tory MPs known to have written a letter calling
for a confidence vote. The other, Patrick Mercer, resigned after a
lobbying scandal.
A year later Bridgen
wrote an open letter to Cameron formally withdrawing his letter
calling for a confidence vote, and offering Cameron his “full and
enthusiastic support”. Explaining his volte-face, he said much had
happened in the meantime.
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