DOWNING St has brushed aside MPs’ criticism of Theresa May’s attempt to pin the blame on them for the Brexit crisis as it also flatly rejected any suggestion the Prime Minister might have put politicians at risk.
After Mrs May suggested in a public message from No 10 that the intransigence of MPs was responsible for the continuing impasse on Brexit, she suffered a backlash from indignant politicians on both sides of the Commons.
In the strongest attack, Tory backbencher Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, lashed out, saying he had “never been more ashamed” to be a Conservative following the PM’s laying the blame for the Brexit crisis at Parliament’s door.
Describing Mrs May’s performance at yesterday’s PMQs as his “worst moment” at Westminster, the Buckinghamshire MP added: “I could have wept…to see her reduced to these straits…simply zig-zagging all over the place rather than standing up for the national interest.”
His Conservative colleague Sam Gyimah, the former minister who resigned over the PM’s Brexit deal, accused his party leader of delivering a "low blow" by "resorting to the blame game".
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "Democracy loses when a prime minister…sets herself against the House of Commons and then blames MPs for doing their job.
"And this is particularly worrying given she knows MPs are receiving hate mail in their inboxes. Some MPs are receiving death threats."
Mr Gyimah added: "Blackmailing Parliament to vote for a deal that even the newspapers, that are saying we should support it, are saying we should hold our noses against the stench of this deal, is not a blueprint for the future of our great country and I can't support it."
Labour's David Lammy called the No 10 address "sinister".
The London MP tweeted: "Theresa May's attempt to put Parliament against the people on #Brexit tonight is sinister. It is the populism of Steve Bannon and Donald Trump. History will judge her brutally. Our country deserves so much better than this."
Asked if Mrs May had a response to MPs who were offended by her remarks last night, her spokeswoman said: “What the PM was doing was setting out to the public that while we are not going to be able to leave with a deal on time on March 29, she is not prepared to accept an extension beyond June 30.
“It’s three years since the referendum and the public no matter how they voted want to bring this to a conclusion and that is what she was setting out yesterday.”
When it was suggested it seemed strange that when Mrs May was fighting to get the support of MPs for her Brexit plan, she was publicly rebuking them, the spokeswoman replied: “I don’t accept that. I just set out what the message was about, setting out details to the extension and her own personal feelings of regret that that has had to happen.”
Asked to comment on the suggestion Mrs May could be putting MPs at risk because of her attempt to pin the blame on them for the Brexit crisis, the spokeswoman replied: “I would flatly reject that…There is no evidence to suggest that is the case…I reject there’s any connection.”
She added: “This is an incredibly challenging process. The PM is working tirelessly to deliver on what people voted for and for us to be able to leave the EU. It’s not without its extraordinarily difficult challenges.”
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