From the Guardian.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg and the shadowy group of Tories shaping Brexit
Powerful European Research Group accused of misusing funds – and tearing Conservatives apart
It has no website, no public list of members, and it is accused of misusing taxpayers’ money. But despite its shadowy status, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group is powerful enough to shape Theresa May’s Brexit policy – and has been accused of tearing the Conservative party apart.
The ERG, and its chairman Rees-Mogg, are vigorous proponents of a hard Brexit approach. They have been at the centre of recent Tory disagreements, and operate in tandem with junior ministers in the Brexit department, who in turn used to be at the top of the ERG.
This week, Rees-Mogg has attacked Philip Hammond’s Treasury and helped push Theresa May into ruling out membership of any customs union post-Brexit.
On Tuesday morning the leading pro-European Conservative backbencher Anna Soubry expressed her dismay at the group’s influence. “It feels like – and I think there’s evidence to support this – Theresa is in hock to these 35 hard Brexiteers,” she said, in a clear allusion to the ERG. “They don’t represent my party, but more importantly they don’t represent people who voted leave.”
She had made a similar case on Monday night, telling Newsnight: “Unless Theresa stands up and sees off these people she is in real danger of losing huge swathes of not just the parliamentary party but the Conservative party.”
Now the Labour party has complained about the way it operates, saying that it is in breach of parliamentary rules in the way it uses public funds, which are supposed to support MPs with objective research rather than promoting partisan ends.
The ERG’s funds are allocated by a group of Conservative MPs. They pay £2,000 a year from their taxpayer-funded expenses to fund a researcher, who pushes out private briefing notes. It also shares information and lines to take in media appearances via a closed WhatsApp group, now the principal way to organise a clique of MPs.
The number of MPs who back it financially amount to 20 to 25 a year, producing an income of a little short of £50,000, according to publicly available information.
Subversive, the lot of them!
And just as Teresa May is saying what a bad influence Social Media are, here are these villainous characters using it!
"
Jacob Rees-Mogg and the shadowy group of Tories shaping Brexit
Powerful European Research Group accused of misusing funds – and tearing Conservatives apart
It has no website, no public list of members, and it is accused of misusing taxpayers’ money. But despite its shadowy status, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group is powerful enough to shape Theresa May’s Brexit policy – and has been accused of tearing the Conservative party apart.
The ERG, and its chairman Rees-Mogg, are vigorous proponents of a hard Brexit approach. They have been at the centre of recent Tory disagreements, and operate in tandem with junior ministers in the Brexit department, who in turn used to be at the top of the ERG.
This week, Rees-Mogg has attacked Philip Hammond’s Treasury and helped push Theresa May into ruling out membership of any customs union post-Brexit.
On Tuesday morning the leading pro-European Conservative backbencher Anna Soubry expressed her dismay at the group’s influence. “It feels like – and I think there’s evidence to support this – Theresa is in hock to these 35 hard Brexiteers,” she said, in a clear allusion to the ERG. “They don’t represent my party, but more importantly they don’t represent people who voted leave.”
She had made a similar case on Monday night, telling Newsnight: “Unless Theresa stands up and sees off these people she is in real danger of losing huge swathes of not just the parliamentary party but the Conservative party.”
Now the Labour party has complained about the way it operates, saying that it is in breach of parliamentary rules in the way it uses public funds, which are supposed to support MPs with objective research rather than promoting partisan ends.
The ERG’s funds are allocated by a group of Conservative MPs. They pay £2,000 a year from their taxpayer-funded expenses to fund a researcher, who pushes out private briefing notes. It also shares information and lines to take in media appearances via a closed WhatsApp group, now the principal way to organise a clique of MPs.
The number of MPs who back it financially amount to 20 to 25 a year, producing an income of a little short of £50,000, according to publicly available information.
Subversive, the lot of them!
And just as Teresa May is saying what a bad influence Social Media are, here are these villainous characters using it!
