Brexit in Peril – The secret two-day meeting between Government and Rejoiners

The Government’s conspiracy never to deliver Brexit was revealed on Friday

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

The ‘fifth column’ that goes to the very top of Government – deeply troubling information

Over Thursday and Friday (9th and 10th Feb 2023) a secret, residential conference took place at one of England’s finest stately homes in Oxfordshire. The subject was how to move the UK closer to the EU and it was run by senior Rejoiners. The senior Government Minister Michael Gove stayed over and attended on both days.

First revealed on Saturday (11 Feb 2023) in an article on Bloomberg (paywalled), details were revealed by the Observer yesterday and we are free to report on the story. As ever, Brexit Facts4EU.Org has done even more research about those involved in this plot and we can bring readers some alarming information. More will follow tomorrow.

“A clear and present danger” to Brexit

Castle Brexit is about to come under major attack. For years we have had to contend with the EU, Remainer-Rejoiner MPs and Peers, the BBC and other anti-Brexit media, foreign-funded Rejoiner campaigns, and virtually the entire British Establishment.

Now it has become really serious. There is clear evidence of a ‘fifth column’ which leads right to the heart of the Sunak Government.

The essential information about the secret event

The innocuous-sounding title of this conference was “How can we make Brexit work better with our neighbours in Europe?”

Presumably this bland title was dreamt up in an attempt to attract some Brexiteers in order to give the event some semblance of legitimacy. The names of the attendees we know about (thanks to Bloomberg and the Observer who have seen the notes) include senior Labour and Tory politicians, former diplomats, defence ‘experts’, and the heads of some of the UK’s biggest businesses and banks.


The venue: Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire. Credit: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Jeff Jarvis

One source for The Observer article told them the conference was about “moving on from Leave and Remain” and building cross-party consensus on improving ties with Brussels, saying: “The main thrust of it was that Britain is losing out, that Brexit is not delivering, our economy is in a weak position.”

The vast majority who attended are not only Remainer-Rejoiners, they fall into the ‘extreme’ category. These are leopards who will never change their spots

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Two key conspirators

1. The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State in Rishi Sunak’s Government

Attribution: UKinUSA from Washington DC, USA,
CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP is a serving member of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet. He is currently Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as well as being Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and a Member of the Privy Council. He has held many other positions, including that of Lord Chancellor, and even of Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the disastrous May government following the election in 2017.

Gove reports to the Cabinet and to the PM personally. He would certainly have had to inform the Cabinet Office Secretary and seek approval.

Any idea that his attendance at this secret two-day meeting hidden away in the heart of the countryside was not sanctioned at the highest (PM) level is for the Oxfordshire birds.

It’s not often we quote David Cameron, but in his memoir he described Gove as being "mendacious". And that's from David Cameron....

2. Lord Peter Mandelson, the Chairman of this secret meeting

Attribution: Policy Network,
CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

According to papers seen by the Observer, Lord Peter Mandelson chaired the two-day meeting. Mandelson is a left-wing politician who has campaigned vigorously for membership of the EU.

He was twice forced to resign from the Cabinet before leaving Parliament. On one of these occasions in 2004 he resigned his seat in Parliament to go to Brussels to become EU Commissioner for Trade.

This was during the prolonged period when the Commission was doing nothing useful in terms of securing trade deals with the most important economies in the world. On his return he was then made a peer by PM Gordon Brown so that he could become ‘First Secretary of State’ and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Following the Referendum he was a key campaigner for re-running the vote and supported all attempts to overthrow the democratic decision of the British people.

Like Mr Gove he has attended meetings of the secretive Bilderberg Group. To date Lord Mandelson has attended seven of them.

The term “spin doctor” is said to have originally been coined for him and his nickname became “the Prince of Darkness”. He has survived many allegations of financial and other misconduct and when he did resign he always found a way back.

The full list of attendees of the Ditchley Hall meeting we know of

[Key : (R) = Remain supporter, (L) = Leave supporter (?) = Unproven]

  • (?) Michael Gove MP
  • (R) John Healey MP (Labour's Shadow Secretary for Defence)
  • (L) Lord Michael Howard (Former leader of the Conservative Party)
  • (L) Baroness Gisela Stuart (Former Labour MP)
  • (R) Sir David Lidington (Former Conservative Minister of State for Europe)
  • (R) David Lammy MP (Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs)
  • (L) Lord Norman Lamont (Former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer)
  • (R) Angus Lapsley (Nato assistant secretary general)
  • (R) Lord Peter Mandelson
  • (R) Oliver Robbins (Theresa May's former Brexit Negotiator)
  • (R) Sir Tom Scholar (former Treasury permanent secretary)
  • (?) Sir Jonathan Symonds (chair of GlaxoSmithKline), and other ‘business leaders’

That's eight known Remainer-Rejoiners and only three definite Brexiteers, none of the latter being the most significant figures on the pro-Brexit side of the argument. We have put a question mark against Michael Gove's name as we have misgivings over his true allegiances. Not one of the core ERG group was invited. The Chairman Mark Francois was not invited, nor David Jones, John Redwood, IDS, or Jacob Rees-Mogg, nor figures such as Lord David Frost - who negotiated the final deal with the EU.

IN PART TWO of this report we will provide some worrying information about the other attendees at this secret event, including those senior civil servants who were involved behind the scenes of the Brexit negotiations and about whom the public has heard little. Do not miss this! Part Two is currently scheduled for tomorrow.

The reaction from leading eurosceptics

This morning the Daily Telegraph reported on reactions :-

The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP:

“Instead of talking of sell out at private conferences, the UK establishment needs to complete Brexit and use its freedoms.

“Every time the UK makes concessions to the EU, they see it as weakness and treat us like a wayward dependent state. Time for the UK to show some independent spirit. Pass the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill so Northern Ireland is fully part of the UK, and take back full control of our fish for starters.”

Conservative Peer Lord Cruddas described the meeting as “truly extraordinary”

“It is in effect a platform for not dealing with the fundamental principles of the opportunities which Brexit throws up. His removal was all about reversing Brexit, never mind what the electorate voted for.”

The Rt Hon David Jones MP, former Brexit Minister, Vice-Chair of the ERG, questioned why senior eurosceptics were not invited

“If it were a genuine attempt to explore the benefits and problems associated with Brexit in the national interest, they wouldn’t have held it in secret.”

The key question for readers must surely be: “What was senior Government Minister Michael Gove doing at a secret, residential, two-day meeting run by Remainer-Rejoiners, discussing ways to get closer to the EU?”

Observations

Michael Gove's presence at this secret event organised by Remainer-Rejoiners will have had to have been sanctioned at the highest level. A senior Cabinet Minister in Rishi Sunak's Government cannot simply disappear for two days without the full approval of No.10.

This makes it as certain as can be that the Government is happy to engage fully with Remainer-Rejoiners regarding the UK's rapprochement with the EU, just at the time when it should be standing firm and resolute on issues including :-

  • Returning full sovereignty of Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom, including the removal of ECJ control of laws in the Province
  • Urgently repealing thousands of EU laws via the 'Retained EU Law Bill' currently being held up in the Lords
  • Taking back full control of our waters
  • And many other serious matters which have prevented the full Brexit benefits being felt by the public

There may be some readers who might feel that Brexit Facts4EU.Org is being unnecessarily alarmist. Unfortunately we have never been wrong about our warnings in the past. Unless we stand up and call this event out in the strongest possible terms, Rishi Sunak will think he can get away with a highly-diluted Brexit which is in fact BRINO ('Brexit in Name Only').

In Part Two we will reveal even more worrying details about this secretive, residential two-day event deep in the Oxfordshire countryside. We hope to publish this tomorrow.

If you voted for Brexit, we urge you to take notice

Brexit Facts4EU.Org is working with others to assemble a coordinated and powerful force to stop the 'drip-drip' moves to dilute Brexit so much that isn't Brexit at all, and to such an extent that it becomes easier to take us back into the EU. The Rejoiners' moves will be conducted one at a time but they will be inexorable.

They failed to overturn the Referendum result in one fell swoop despite years of trying to do so in Parliament. Now they will attempt to achieve their aims quietly and by the back door.

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[ Sources: Bloomberg | The Observer | Parliament | Other media and official sources too numerous to cite. (We will name more in Part Two of this report.) ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 13 Feb 2023

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