Brexit row puts Bournemouth MPs on opposite sides

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns is still advising his former boss Boris Johnson, while Bournemouth East’s Tobias Ellwood has slated the former Foreign Secretary for comparing the government’s Chequers proposal to a “suicide vest”.

Mr Ellwood, a defence minister, has also said leaving the European Union without a deal would be “catastrophic” for Britain and leave it unable to trade with mainland Europe.

"The Chequers plan is advancing anyway because it’s the document that’s been put across the table as a proposal to the EU," said Mr Ellwood. "We have to get over that hurdle.

"If they do agree to that, we’ve got something that we can work with that honours the result of the referendum but allows us to thrive, particularly within Europe but also further afield. The idea that you throw out this document now leaves us with no deal and a no-deal would be catastrophic for Britain. A no-deal would see Britain pushed to the side-lines of Europe on so many levels that would be absolutely dangerous for our economy.

"It would lead to the diminution of our status, the role we play in the world and have dramatic consequences and leave us unable to trade with Europe."

Mr Ellwood added: "“I respect Conor is able to have a different view without making it personal. That’s absolutely fundamental and unfortunately this debate has been based too much in personalities."

Mr Burns however was scathing about the Chequers plan. He said: "It is only in the most theoretical way that this could be called taking back control. I don't see how anyone with any level of intellectual honesty or dexterity could argue that this honours the result of the referendum.

"Anything which leaves us in regulatory thrall to the EU is not, in my view, Brexit."

Mr Burns said he and fellow Brexiters had the public behind them, and he wants to see the Prime Minister return to the Lancaster House speech blueprint for Brexit.

He said he is still advising Mr Johnson as he had as his parliamentary private secretary prior to their resignations in July.

On any leadership bid by the former Foreign Secretary, he said: "At the moment for everybody on my side of the argument the focus is on changing the policy of the Prime Minister, not the person of the Prime Minister. There is still time before March 31 to adopt a different policy that allows us to see the opportunities of Brexit."

Mr Burns said the difficulties in the Brexit process were complicated by that fact that "parliament decided to go to the people, but it is overwhelmingly dominated by people who disagree with the decision they took".

"Theresa May herself said you can't implement Brexit if you don't believe in Brexit, she is proving herself right," he added.

Boris Johnson said at the weekend that Mrs May had “wrapped a suicide vest” around the British constitution and “handed the detonator” to Brussels.

Mr Ellwood, a former army captain who lost his brother Jonathan in the Bali bombing in 2002, told the Daily Echo: “For somebody who has such a command over the English language, and for personal reasons, I think it’s unfortunate what he said.

“This is a very important and serious debate, the biggest question we face in a generation. These comments don’t add anything, there’s no fresh thinking. What it simply does is dominate the national discussion, which is not to diminish its importance but it overshadows other areas of national concern.”