Secret Brexit conference: betrayal or search for a better way?

Leading Eurosceptics including Michael Gove joined high-profile Remainers at a “secret” meeting to discuss how to make Brexit “work better”, according to reports.

The Observer revealed that the “extraordinary cross-party summit” was held last week at historic Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, to “address the failings of Brexit and how to remedy them in the national interest”. Documents from the summit reportedly show that senior Tory and Labour politicians met with diplomats, defence experts and senior business leaders for a discussion titled: “How can we make Brexit work better with our neighbours in Europe?”

Levelling Up Secretary Gove is said to have been joined by fellow Leave campaigners including former Tory party leader Michael Howard, former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont and former Labour minister Gisela Stuart. Remainer attendees included shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, former Tory minister David Lidington and Labour’s former EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, who reportedly acted as chair.

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Time to admit Brexit ‘failure’?

A source told The Observer that the “main thrust” of the summit was that “Britain is losing out, that Brexit is not delivering, our economy is in a weak position”.

“It was about moving on from Leave and Remain,” the source added, “and what are the issues we now have to face, and how can we get into the best position in order to have a conversation with the EU about changes to the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement when that happens?”

Downing Street said Rishi Sunak had not been aware in advance of the cross-party gathering. During a trip to Oldham today, the prime minister said that he was focused on “making sure we capitalise on the benefits of Brexit”.

The attendees at the summit were if not a “B-team”, then certainly not “the greatest powers in the land”, said The Spectator’s Sam Leith. Gove was the only senior government figure there, but “good on” him and the other attendees for at least addressing the problems posed by our EU departure.

“‘How can we make Brexit work better?’ is arguably the central question in our national conversation, and we won’t begin to answer it until we can admit it is,” Leith added.

Attempt to ‘weaken and reverse’ Brexit

Some Eurosceptic Tory MPs fear the summit was an attempt to “weaken and reverse” the Brexit deal that took the UK out of the EU, the i news site reported.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith described the clandestine meeting as “a classic Mandlesonian attempt to manipulate the process”. The Leave supporter told the site that such discussions risked diverting attention from resolving ongoing issues such as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Other Conservative figures have warned Sunak not to “sell out” Brexit, according to The Telegraph. The alleged warning comes amid reports that the prime minister has “privately told senior ministers to draw up plans for how to rebuild relations with the EU across a range of policy areas”.

“Instead of talking of sell out at private conferences, the UK establishment needs to complete Brexit and use its freedoms,” Eurosceptic MP John Redwood told the paper. “Every time the UK makes concessions to the EU, they see it as weakness and treat us like a wayward dependent state. Time for the UK to show some independent spirit.”

Sources close to Gove reportedly told The Sun that he had “no ‘bregrets’” and only attended the gathering last week in his capacity as a governor of the Ditchley Park estate.