Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd has been urged to start telling the truth on a no-deal Brexit again after she denied she was a ‘sell out’ for joining Boris Johnson’s cabinet.
Rudd once claimed Boris Johnson was “not the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening” but rowed back on her no-deal Brexit warnings to keep a job in his cabinet.
She admitted earlier this year a no-deal Brexit would “do generational damage to our economy and security”.
But while Rudd has since said that a no-deal Brexit would be a “challenge” she insisted the government was seeking a deal.
“A no-deal Brexit would be far worse than a deal Brexit, which is why the government is so focused on trying to get that,” Rudd told Sky News.
“But we’re also putting in place a lot of preparations to make sure that, should it come to that, we will have done all we can to mitigate against any difficulties.”
She added: “We’re very clearly focused as a government that we want to get a deal.”
Rudd also denied that she had become a “sell out” for taking a post in Boris Johnson’s cabinet.
She said: “In this job, everybody will launch some sort of criticism about whatever decision you made.
“I made a decision to back a candidate in the leadership race, which initially was Jeremy Hunt who was very clear that we needed to have no deal as part of the armoury in a negotiation.
“And, having done that, I made my own decision to compromise on that basis and to go ahead and then prime minister Boris Johnson put his cabinet together.”
Labour MP Virendra Sharma, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, said: “It may not help her career, but Amber needs to start telling the truth about no-deal again.
“She knows Brexit will kill our economy and stopping it would be best for Britain.”
Most popular
Alastair Campbell’s Diary: Disappointing Greta Thunberg and a night out with the Kinnocks
Mandrake: Facing the fury of Nadine Dorries
