Lord Heseltine has had the Tory whip suspended on Monday.
The whip was suspended from the former deputy prime minister after the Conservative peer announced he would vote for the Liberal Democrats at the European elections on Thursday, instead of his own party.
In an article in the Sunday Times, Lord Heseltine said
“I cannot, with a clear conscience, vote for my party when it is myopically focused on forcing through the biggest act of economic self-harm ever undertaken by a democratic government.”
Lord Heseltine’s decision to vote for the Liberal Democrats had led to calls that he should be expelled from the Conservative party. On Monday, a spokesperson for the Conservative Party said;
“Lord Heseltine has given more than half a century of service to the Conservative Party, and his longstanding and sincerely held views on Europe are well understood.”
“But, with his long experience, he will know that publicly endorsing the candidates of another party is not compatible with taking the Conservative whip in parliament.”
“As a result, the chief whip in the House of Lords has informed Lord Heseltine that he will have the Conservative whip suspended. This will be reviewed if he is willing to support Conservative candidates at future elections.”
In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said;
“I find Lord Heseltine’s arrogance that he knows better than the majority of the electorate really quite breathtaking.
“There really is no place for someone with his views in the Conservative Party.”
This is not the first time Lord Heseltine has hit the headlines over Brexit – in March 2017, he was sacked as an adviser government after he rebelled in a Brexit vote in the House of Lords. With the whip removed, Heseltine is currently independent of the party unless the whip is restored.
Cover Photo: Lord Heseltine in 2013 | Credit: Policy Exchange on Flickr, Licence (CC BY 2.0)
