David Cameron faces a possible defeat on the Queen’s Speech after Tory EU rebels teamed up with Labour MPs to force a vote about the National Health Service.
The threat emerged amid worsening relations between Tory MPs, one of whom accused Downing Street of backstabbing and “whispering in dark corridors” to smear Boris Johnson and other senior Leave campaigners.
No government has been defeated on a Queen’s Speech debate since 1924, when Stanley Baldwin lost a confidence vote and was forced to resign as a consequence.
Twenty five Tory MPs yesterday signed an amendment motion expressing “regret” that there was no Bill in the government’s programme to “protect the NHS” from competition from American health firms.
Labour’s Jon Cruddas and Scottish Nationalist MP Chris Stephens were among signatories from other parties.
The Unite union is backing the motion and Labour sources said Jeremy Corbyn was likely to come behind it, posing a real risk to Cameron’s fragile majority.
The technical issue behind the vote is that the NHS could be exposed to privatisation pressures from big US health corporations under the terms of a trade deal negotiated between the European Union and the US.
The government says the deal does not apply to the health service, but former shadow chancellor Peter Lilley believes the government could be taken to court by US firms. Unite has commissioned a QC’s opinion which agrees that the threat exists.
The tactics echo the Commons clashes during the Maastricht revolts in the early Nineties, when Tory rebels collaborated with Labour to inflict humiliating defeats on John Major.
Although the current amendment would not change policy, it would be a major embarrassment to Cameron if passed and could mark a new breakdown in Conservative party discipline. In a furious outburst, backbencher Steve Baker condemned what he claimed were a series of personal attacks masterminded by No 10 to undermine Brexit leaders, including Johnson and Michael Gove.
He claimed the Remain campaign, which is now being orchestrated from Downing Street, was in danger of a “scorched earth” policy that would damage the Conservatives.
“A full frontal assault with due warning is fine, but the dagger in the heart, inserted from the back, through whispering in dark corridors is not okay,” Baker said. He cited Lord Heseltine dismissing former London mayor Johnson’s credentials as a future leader because of his comparison of the EU with Hitler.