The grandson of Sir Winston Churchill faces being kicked out of the Conservative Party by Boris Johnson for opposing the British prime minister’s Brexit plan.
Sir Nicholas Soames, 71, a member of Parliament and a senior member of the Conservative Party, is meeting with Johnson on Tuesday. He said he will vote against Johnson, 55, and the government on Tuesday night if the premier sticks with his stance that Britain will leave the European Union on Oct. 31 even if no deal with Brussels can be reached.
Soames, the son of Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, has been outspoken in his pro-European views. He suggested that the no-deal Brexit could be the greatest crisis in the U.K. since 1940 when the country was under threat by the German army in World War II, the year his illustrious forbear became British premier. “What they want to do is to leave on Oct. 31, regardless it seems of the consequences,” Soames said in August. “I think that is a highly foolish thing to do.”
He also suggested that the late Margaret Thatcher, Conservative leader from 1975 and prime minister from 1990 who now has iconic status in the party, would not have supported a no-deal Brexit. “I guarantee Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t have taken the U.K. out of the European Union,” he said.
By defying Johnson and the Conservative Party whips, Soames faces ejection from the party and deselection from its list of candidates. Other conservative members of Parliament have expressed similar opposition to Johnson. Former chancellor Phillip Hammond accused Johnson of “rank hypocrisy,” and vowed to wage the “fight of a lifetime” if he were deselected.
Boris Johnson has drawn comparisons to Winston Churchill in his early days as prime minister, not least from himself. He wrote a book The Churchill Factor replete with admiration for the prime minister who led the U.K. in their resistance of Hitler and the German Army during World War II.
Soames rejected the comparison of Johnson to his grandfather. “I don’t buy the theory that Boris is masquerading as Churchill,” he said. “I think he admires my grandfather greatly and that he sees the great lessons to be learned from Churchill’s life.” He added that his grandfather would never have an equal. “I’m not Winston Churchill, nor is anyone else for that matter.”
Sir Nicholas Soames tells me he will vote against the Govt tonight, unless the PM (who he’s going to see now) can assure him a Brexit deal will be done. Boris therefore faces the uncomfortable prospect of deselecting Winston Churchill’s grandson.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) September 3, 2019
