Dominic Grieve accuses Tory colleagues of becoming 'unhinged' over Brexit

'The risk that you start to run is that you're just being bullied into silence,' says former Attorney General, who campaigned to remain

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve campaigned to Remain but insists there is no intention to thwart the Brexit process (Getty)

A former Tory minister has launched a blistering attack on some of his party colleagues, accusing them of becoming “unhinged” amid the “hysteria” over Brexit.

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who campaigned to Remain, warned there is a danger of MPs being “bullied into silence” by newspapers and social media as Brexit legislation slowly works its way through Parliament.

Mr Grieve was one of those labelled a “mutineer” on the front page of The Telegraph this week for apparently being ready to vote against a government amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill, which proposes to enshrine the official Brexit date into law.

“I do sometimes think that some of my colleagues have become unhinged actually, not the Prime Minister,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics.

“The PM’s problem is that she’s surrounded by people who get louder and more strident by the moment as some of the inevitable problems, which were going to come with Brexit, start to make themselves apparent.”

Asked whether disagreeing with some of his colleagues made him uncomfortable, he replied: “Of course I feel in one way uncomfortable, parties are held together by ties of affection and loyalty more than anything else.

“It’s very important to be polite and it’s very important to listen if you’re going to have a disagreement.

“But equally there does come a point in these processes where the risk that you start to run is that you’re just being bullied into silence and I think the last week has shown to me that that risk is very apparent.

“Some of my colleagues get death threats. All these are at least in part generated by the sort of media coverage that is being given and cranking up the tension, the excitement, the hysteria, presumably because it sells copy.

“This isn’t a good way of making rational decisions.”

Other pro-Remain MPs from all sides, including Conservative Anna Soubry, have echoed Mr Grieve’s sentiments.

Ms Soubry labelled The Telegraph’s front page “bullying” and claimed to have received death threats.

Mr Grieve said he does not intend to derail the Brexit process but that “sensible compromises” are required through amendments to the bill.

He said the Government’s attempt to write the date of Brexit in March 2019 was “a completely goofy amendment”, adding it “could prevent us achieving the best possible Brexit by bringing down the guillotine”.

“My feeling is the Government does not have a majority to get this through the House of Commons,” he said.

“We’re providing extraordinary powers to Government... to change the law by ministerial decree.”