The Week That Broke Brexit: A Telegraph Documentary

it was very messy and I think that the mistake was that they didn't foresee that David Cameron was going to go if they won there's some realization that those who'd been responsible for campaigning for out suddenly owned via sheep I think we were slightly unprepared for that they old lying about you only meant to blow the bloody doors off well they'd not done that they've blown the doors off and crashed the vehicle over the cliff I mean there's a real moment in politics to then find you had a prime minister who not only did not prepare for their mentality of us leaving the European Union but as I understand it even game instructions that they mustn't do it I thought was not just careless it was reckless it's like they've spent the last a year year and a half playing catch-up that was a massive massive mistake it was actually a dereliction of duty were two years down the line and someone who voted remain is in charge of some pretty lackluster negotiations we're heading towards a deal which is unlikely to please anybody too many wrecks it appears to be a mess was Michael right to do what he did no because he was you know Annie and it cost him dearly they'd known each other for years and the idea that Michael suddenly reached this an epiphany around Boris that he wasn't up to it is patently ludicrous and history will dictate that you know you made the wrong decision it clearly changed the course of history really because Michael go then did launch his beard Boris did stand down and we now have to resume as Prime Minister brexit means brexit there's not been for many years a choice that's aroused such passion it's clear that it's going to be very close and it's also clear I think that we are in a very divided country the dawn is breaking I remember within about two minutes David Dimbleby was on the telly and made that huge announcement that leave had won at twenty minutes to five we can now say the decision taken in 1975 by this country to join the Common Market has been reversed by this referendum to leave the EU it's just like the most incredible moment for me anyway David Dimbleby didn't look so pleased but it was incredible and it felt like Britain was suddenly more free a freer country the British people have spoken and the answer is we're out it was incredibly exciting I mean obviously we heard on the news where people were saying oh it's gonna be definitely remained but but in my heart I just didn't believe it I just really believed that I was going to get a breaks at outcome which thankfully we did I think it's a victory for ordinary people decent people it's a victory against the big merchant banks against the big businesses and against after we left the Milbank party we knew the result of been announced on BBC in the sky we walked down the road back to flat and we met an old guy that was taking cash out of the cash point and he was terrified that the whole banking system was gonna collapse and he made us with a bottle of champagne so we stopped and I had a chat with him the Sun was coming up glorious day we thought it was marked the total number of votes cast in favour of remain was 16 million one hundred and forty one thousand two hundred and forty one the total number of votes cast in favour of leaf was 17 four hundred and ten thousand seven hundred and forty-two I couldn't stop crying I mean it it was awful and you know you you're trying to kind of keep it together for everybody but it was you know incredibly emotional it's a dreadful dreadful night I think is a terrible result and I think the consequences are absolutely enormous not just the public but I don't even think that the people who led this leaf campaign and really fully seized of the consequences of what's going to happen we were gutted and I think we did as a campaign team the only responsible thing which was to find a pub that opened at six o'clock in the morning and get down there appropriately it was called the hope just by smithfield's markets and we went there and downed our sorrows all morning the day of the vote there were a few of us who sat in David Cameron's office and we were talking about what should happen if David Cameron lost and the mood in the room I think was essentially you can fight on you could stay and you could guide the country and this is a moment where the country is going to need leadership and it's gonna need somebody holding the reins I was very clearly of the view that if we have lost you have to resign you staked your entire political credibility on this you've told the country that you think it will be deeply damaging if brexit happens and you have to go because the reality is you just be sitting in the office waiting for somebody to tap you on the shoulder anyway and tell you it's time to go and with Britain voting to leave the EU all eyes this morning or our number 10 Downing Street and the next morning he came down and I remember when he came down there were few of us gathered around his office and his first remark was well that didn't work did it and some people have said that well that's a sign that he was being facetious actually I think it's typical of David Cameron he was trying to say to his team look I know you fought really hard I know everybody fought really hard and we did the best that we could and I think that the other thing that happened at that stage was that he decided that he needed to phone the leave campaign and concede and the person that that meant him calling was Michael Gove and what was interesting about that was Michael Gove had actually been godparent to one of his children they've been incredibly close but during the campaign I think it had felt like it become unbelievably personal I think that David Cameron thought that Michael Gove had taken it to a degree of being personal that really really was beyond the pale so he decided to phone Michael Gove and the call was quite stilted and what was interesting was during the call Michael Gove was saying well look you know we need to come over to Downing Street and we need to come and talk about what we do next and David Cameron very quietly said to him no I don't think you do need to come over the Downing Street I've got my own plans but I do think whether he's publicly admitting it or not privately most people now in Westminster would say this morning that his time in office is certainly contracted I can still pitch that moment when David Cameron you know went to the steps of 10 Downing Street to announce I had a feeling you would resign because you know he didn't sit on the fence with this and to be honest I respect that I think anybody who actually is passionate about something stand up for it really so I think it's very hard for him to come back from that I think that there was a moment of genuine shock when he walked out the door and it wasn't the moment he said I resign I think people knew that he was going to resign when he walked out and Samantha Cameron was standing next to him I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination so it was a very emotional moment when he went out and spoke about his pride in his country and serving it but feeling as the country had chosen to go against his recommendation he had to go this is not a decision I've taken lightly but I do believe it's in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required 70 million people have said we must leave the European Union we now need a brexit government we're in the office a group of us watching it and it was obvious what was about to happen and they all wanted a cheer and I said no we won't share I kind of even though you know I fought against him for a very very long time even though I felt very deeply that he believed in all the wrong things I never actually thought he was a fruitful human being and I could see for him at a personal level what was happening that morning was was was it but pretty sad for him because hey in a hundred years time when kids at school are learning about David Cameron they'll learn he's the guy that lost the referendum and resigned so I did on at least on a human level feel a little bit sorry for him well I kind of rather took him by his word when he said having called the referendum that he said he would then implement outcome and I didn't think that would involve his immediate resignation but there is something petra's about him we saw that after the Scottish referendum when rather than accepting the result he had this announcement on Downing Street which really didn't help and here he caused a referendum and creates a vacuum by saying and I'm resigning and I think that he therefore sowed the seeds of many of the problems which we're facing today none of us had any inkling of what was about to happen I remember watching it in the den there were a whole group of us including Boris Marina bizarrely he was he was dressed into a jogging shorts and a Brazilian football top and everything any more bizarre but you know you could tell from Samantha's face that it this is what was about to happen I remember Boris distinctly looking at the TV he was really upset for David and for Samantha and I remember him looking at the screen and kind of shaking his head and going our God in their poor day this is absolutely terrible so I think from that point everything changed throughout the course of the referendum campaign those of us on the leave side were asking written parliamentary questions we were asking questions in informally informally in the media what preparations is the government making if we vote to leave when we've actually and the answer always came back the government is campaigning to remain that is the government position so it was quite clear they were doing absolutely nothing and that so cause why there was such utter chaos thinking about all the different natural disasters of the government has to prepare for and have plans and contingency plans for they're prepared for those so why not they haven't she started thinking about what happened in Britain votes to leave I think was a real dereliction of duty on their part George Osborne and David Cameron had told the silver service they couldn't prepare for a leave decision so this was a vacuum of decision-making in government and vote Lee was a campaign not not Administration in any sense so vote leave felt essentially evaporated on the day of the results and that that's a pause that lack of information that kind of vacuum of information I think craters on the curve we have today the idea that if there had been more preparation for brexit is a total and utter red herring and it is an excuse for not facing up to the realities of brexit the idea that the civil service under David Cameron and Jeremy Heywood had done a plan for brexit before the referendum or the vote itself and that that would have been considered acceptable is nonsense and if you don't believe me look at what has happened since article 50 his trip being triggered the cabinet has been totally unable to reach a conclusion and that is on its own terms how would it have ever reached a conclusion on somebody else's terms thank you very much [Music] it was the morning after the e referendum result and Boris Johnson had every reason to be feeling pretty pleased with himself he had led the leave campaign and he'd won he'd won the war effectively what he discovered that morning as he left his house was the really divisive nature of the brexit vote he walked out of his house in North Islington to discover hundreds of people booing him they were really angry with him about the result and for Boris disprove come as something of a shock he's always prided himself in being a very popular politician we had a driver who I'd only had ever driven us before and the light was about to go red at the end of the road and I thought I do not want to be calling this and I said to him jump the light I don't care what happens jump the light it'll be fine probably not the best thing to tell you but I did say it to him and he slammed on the brakes and we were stuck at the light and I thought and we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of angry cyclists you've been outside the house we'd all been cited into work and didn't like leave we didn't like voice anymore screaming obscenities and banging on the window and Boris to his credit stared straight ahead eventually the light changed eventually the police move them out of the way and we were away because in the way they have been doing our job for us they hire us to deal with the hard questions and this year we gave them one of the biggest and toughest questions of all when I look at Boris Johnson I look at a man who's highly entertaining who obviously has a connection with people and a great campaigner I don't look at somebody who's a serious person I don't a diplomat at I look at somebody who should be representing our country abroad or somebody who I think is you know the right type of person to make decisions and that came tumbling out both on the morning after the referendum when he stood looking very very sheepish with Michael Gove at the vote leave headquarters a man who clearly thought that romaine would win who probably wanted romaine to win didn't really have much conviction about what he was doing and felt very very embarrassed that his old chum David Cameron was resigning as a result and we were about to embark on this which we've been on the British people have given us all a very clear instruction and I know that we in politics will work calmly cooperatively and consensually to implement that instruction for the virus managed to get 17 million four hundred ten thousand seven hundred and sixty two people to vote for it it was an amazing achievement if I was you know an MP trying to select a potential candidate I would take that into consideration I think there are three great candidates one is Boris one is Michael and third is Andrea the three brexit ears and any one of them would make a great leader of the party what's happened to me she's been very very quiet it's some might say opportunistically quiet so the Home Office is an extremely busy department you were candidate for the leader could you like what you would like to rule yourself out I have given no thought at all to who I'm going to back to the leadership campaign mr. felony you a candidate for the leadership of your party will you be standing for the leadership of your party definitely not how many of you want to throw in the ring now then I gave her wearing out a long time ago [Music] so on the Saturday morning after the EU referendum result Boris Johnson thought it would be a good idea to go play cricket and I'd played in that match before it's a charity match with an old friend of his Charles Spencer you know and I said you know you'll be criticized for going but at the end of the day if it's what you need and you want to do go and do it it might seem innocuous enough it's a game of cricket it's the kind of thing Boris does but actually it had huge ramifications for everything that was to come what happened was that Michael was really really upset by this Michael Gove was set to be Boris's Chancellor Boris was going to be the prime minister and Michael thought this showed a criminal lack of seriousness wasn't that he wasn't taking life seriously the idea that he wasn't thinking about what was happening next he's really great his brain is switched on 24 hours a day but everyone needs relaxation Boris Johnson going off to play cricket is something you do if you want to relax and do something in a jovial fun light-hearted way my sense is lots of the leaf campaigners didn't see it as their responsibility to have a plan and then to implement it and that weekend was a moment when Brice Johnson had a chance to grab the prize he always said that the ball became free the back of the scrum he would grab the ball and run with it when I said he picked up a cricket ball and play cricket which is the wrong moment for their cricket on the Sunday boss invited Gove for a barbecue at his oxygen at home the idea was that they'd thrash out plans for who would get which roles especially Dominic Cummings the formidable campaign director of vote leave very much a go vermin having served as his aide during his education secretary days and with a reputation for not mincing his words the barbecue in Oxfordshire should have sealed the deal between Michael Gove and Boris Johnson things were already upset off with the cricket maps the day before so Michael turns up to the barbecue and in the words of his eyelids it was a boozy shambolic affair they'd been a conversation on the Saturday night ahead of the barbecue that involved Michael Dominick Boris and myself and I'm a great admirer of Don's and what he achieved and I like Michael a lot but it was clear from that conversation as a four-way telephone conversation about future plans and it was clear from that conversation that Michael and his team wanted to park their tanks on the lawn in terms of any future leadership instead of setting out the path of events everyone got really drunk it was very ill-tempered there were rouse over which key staff should be doing what Don Cummings was the subject of some controversy whether he should be chief of staff or not and in the end it ended in acrimony really one is that boys pushed back he said great but I'm not making any decisions Michael was very keen for George Osborne to the Foreign Secretary Boris said you know we've got to get over the line first and then decided maybe the right thing I'm not promising anyone except for Michael roles in any future government because you know if nothing else I think Boris is a believer that you know yes you can plan for these things but lets you know hubris is a pretty dangerous thing and let's not assume that we've got this in the back so he rode back against them at the barbecue there was a bit of tension and Michael went home that evening and it was at that point that he and his wife Sarah started discussing his own potential leadership two days after that on Tuesday that is the context this email being leaked from Michael goats wife the journalist who became probably the most influential journalist in Britain at that point Sarah died and this email said you know darling you're very talented man and by the way if you don't get specific assurances from Boris about what your role is going to be in this new administration then you cannot give him your back in the key question we have to ask is to what extent did that raise a flag for Michael Gove saying yes you're absolutely right of course I can't trust him I should go it alone or to what extent was it in purely confirmation of doubts that he was having on his own by then already saravana was absolutely pivotal in Michael goes leadership bid the night before he declared himself they held all of his closest aides gathered at his home and Sarah and Michael was sat together she isn't some shrinking violet housewife they are a partnership and she obviously thought that he could be the man to lead the country and I had the opportunity in the last few days to assess whether or not Boris good lead that team and build that unity and I came as I say reluctantly but firmly to the conclusion that while Boris has many talents and attributes he wasn't capable of building that team I came to the conclusion that it was necessary to put myself forward we need leading the Conservative Party and the country at the moment someone with experience at the highest reaches of government we need someone who believes in the British people's verdict that they delivered last week we need someone who can appeal to and unite individuals who argued that we should leave and who also believed that we should remain in the European Union I remember getting on the tube to head to Boris his house to look at final remarks and to prepare for his press conference and announcement and where I lived at the time that you briefly came back over ground and I remember as it came back over ground this text appeared from one of Boris's advisors and it just said effing Gove exclamation mark and I knew at that point they've done how I got off the team and I rang Boris managed to get all didn't mean any just found out you know I had a quick chat with lint and I headed to the house and he was gutted you know and I don't think it's about he was gutted because all his you know supposed great ambition had fallen apart and you know he now had a decision to make it was he was gutted on the level that a guy who'd been his friend for many many years had just decided without any warning to stab him in the back in the front inside I remember there were serious texts going around and I won't used the full language that was in them but one of them was oMFG that was sent to the prime minister which was genuine shock we couldn't believe what was happening and we couldn't believe the missed judgments that were being made because if you've actually spent a period of time saying I'm fully supporting someone to be prime minister of this country and then you say actually having a look at them I've decided that they're not the right person to be leader of the country and I am having in the past said I don't have the temperament for it it felt an incredibly messy a bloody scenario and not to be too Shakespearean about it it felt like somebody was murdering somebody in public and then saying but I must have the crown the news came in that Michael Gove wouldn't be backing Boyce Johnson to be p.m. and would be standing his own right that Phil we were a lot of sadness because I felt that during the course of referendum they'd shown themselves to be a great team a real sword dream team a great partnership I was hoping that partnership would last into government the press conference was scheduled for 11 o'clock that morning had always been scheduled for 11 o'clock and it was meant to be Boris's moment which is gonna cap his life and career well I must tell you my friends you who have waited faithfully for the punchline of this speech it became pretty clear in the tone and then obviously he said and I'm that's why I'm not gonna run so I to be Prime Minister I have concluded that person cannot be me and suddenly all the bunting all the decorations you know it was like became funeral instead of Bridal you know this whole thing was just terrible horrible and people flooded out and it was the next episode in a week of extraordinary episodes I think many people thought you know Oh Boris is now going to be a shoo-in and when Michael Gove wielded the knife a lot of people thought what a terrible a piece of behavior by Michael Gove my view is that go just looked at Boris and thought he's got too much baggage he's not taking this seriously you deliberately wanted to destroy Boris Johnson's career I mean you did not have to do it in the way you did it if I had been like you and I had had a difference with a friend I would have driven across the road across London to my friend and I'd have said there's something we need to discuss you didn't do that who left him in the dark until the very last moment humiliating him publicly and destroying him publicly karma came around pretty quickly for Michael Gove because out of the 330 Tory MPs he got 48 votes in the first round of voting but come the second round of voting and despite his huge appeal to his backbenchers his tally actually went down from 48 to 46 so they rewarded what they clearly perceived as his disloyalty his backstabbing with a vote of disfavor in politics loyalty matters and Michael Gove showed that he didn't have much and I think the Conservative MPs repaid him for that lack of loyalty by saying well sorry mate we don't want to put you forward to the membership and that's why he didn't get onto the final ballot and I'm naturally disappointed that I haven't been able to make it through to the final round of this leadership contest I've invited you here today to announce my candidacy to become leader of the Conservative Party Boris Johnson's implosion meant that the Conservative Party leadership was there for the taking as Boris what's his campaign unravel before his eyes Theresa May held a very stately press conference at rue see where she announced that she was standing I would simply say this I mean I have done this I have sat round the table I know what it's like in those European meetings Teresa Mae came in to that book-lined backdrop for many of us even though this is the other thing she'd been Home Secretary for a long time and she was famous for making speeches she was a performer and a very senior politician I've not just done it I've delivered on negotiations here she was and she suddenly looked very nervous I thought a very different performance someone I hadn't seen before and I think for a lot of people thought gosh who is this different person and maybe she wanted to cut that different personality because she was quite a personality a political persona was tough no-nonsense Home Secretary and here she was trying to appeal to everyone as we've gone on in her Premiership we know that you know public speaking and dealing one-on-one with people and sort of managing the touchy-feely side of the job if you want is definitely not her Forte and so I think we saw her nerves on that day Boras negotiated Europe I seem to remember last time he did a deal with the Germans he came back with three nearly new water cannons [Music] then of course Andrea led some put herself forward I am better prepared for the coming negotiations than anyone else it was one of the real stars of the referendum campaign actually she was somebody who the public didn't really know so in that sense she came out of nowhere and she was amazing I saw her do several press conferences for vote leave and she was brilliant I absolutely thought she was great developed respect for their husband widespread support I think because people like to see somebody who is optimistic about the future I've been talking a lot with colleagues in Parliament over the last week and a number of people have come across to support me which is fabulous and I'm hoping to win more support today but then Andrea let's interview with the times in which she seemed to infer that she would make a better job at being Prime Minister than tourism a word because she had children and throughs amay did not cause severe backlash ultimately resulting in her dropping out of the leadership race so when she got odd can I say shafted by Theresa May I thought that was again it was this brutal blood sport nature of politics and Theresa Mays team really did go for her in the most horrible way I am therefore withdrawing from the leadership election and I wish to resume the very greatest success I don't know what Andrea leads and thinks now but I think if it were me I think you didn't really want to deliver brexit why the heck didn't you let somebody that did want brexit get on and do the job instead of just putting your career first but there you go like I said that's politics isn't it I am honored and humbled to have been chosen by the Conservative Party to become its leader I would like to pay tribute to the other candidates during the election campaign and I would like to pay tribute to Andrea Letson for the dignity that she has shown today the leadership contest was over before it even begun Andrea led soms campaign exploded in spectacular fashion and before Therese mein newer she was the next Prime Minister almost by default without a vote even going to the membership of the Conservative Party now for Tory Euroskeptics they rue this to this day for them they were denied the chance to have a Euroskeptic prime minister taking Britain outside the European Union and instead found themselves with Theresa May someone who had campaigned to keep Britain in I [Music] think it's absolutely clear that we needed a brexit Prime Minister that believed in Brett sir and Theresa May clearly doesn't she's been interviewed repeatedly she still won't say was the wrong you know right or wrong decision she doesn't believe in break sir and now she said she's the third rate administrator wasn't changed she's not a prime minister that following week and the mistakes that were made there was an opportunity and because of the internal rounds between the various candidates they kind of lost the impetus that they needed and what happened you know someone from the inside came in who was remainer and and took the took the lead and became prime minister so suddenly whilst you've got to give them a chance to embrace that and show some leadership what we ended up with is someone who who didn't believe it wasn't particularly a good leader and I think that's why the reason we're in this mess today it was a week that was littered with mistakes on Boris's part there was the decision to go to the cricket match there was the disastrous drunken barbecue all of those played a role in the extraordinary Tory psychodrama that followed when Michael stabbed Boris in the front so in one sense it feels in hindsight like it was all very avoidable that Boris could have done more to keep Michael on board and everyone would have been happy Boris his allies have a different point of view they say that Michael's overweening ambition would have always got the better of him and they say that he's actually a very ruthless politician and he'd have always ended up going for the leadership himself it was just a question of when the key point was David Camm resigning I think a mistake his successes then not being ready for recognizing he might resign like Boris Johnson and others and having something in season season the rubber ball and running with it that failed and I think that the civil service also had no planning in place the problem was never thought that Britons would do it and they did although he didn't quite realize this at the time decisions made by a small group of people in the aftermath of the referendum hold it below the waterline if things have played out differently if brexit ears hadn't fallen out with each other if Cameron had allowed civil service to plan for a leave win or perhaps even if Boris hadn't gone to that cricket match we might not have found ourselves in quite the mess we seem to be in today [Music]

Channel: The Telegraph

Views: 190,529

Keywords: Telegraph, News, World News, UK Newspaper, Telegraph YouTube, Daily News, Video News, World Events, Brexit, The week that broke brexit, Brexit Talks, Telegraph Documentaries, Documentry, Long form content, Long form video, Boris Johnson, Politicians, Politics, Eurosceptics, leave, remain

Id: SG-P90AQDMw

Length: 32min 38sec (1958 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 17 2018