Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis has given his backing to the prominent pro-Remain Tory MP Dominic Grieve after he suffered a vote of no confidence by his local party.
The chairman of the Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association Jackson Ng said the no confidence vote motion was passed at the association’s annual general meeting on Friday.
“Our members had a robust discussion with our MP, Dominic Grieve QC on Brexit before voting on a motion of confidence in him as our MP, which, I can confirm with a heavy heart that he failed to retain,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“He remains our Conservative MP but I will be speaking as soon as possible to my fellow officers and the executive council.”
Lewis expressed his support for Grieve and said that the vote – passed by 182 to 131 – had no formal standing under party rules.
“Part of the strength of our party is that we are a broad church. Dominic is somebody who has contributed to Parliament, is a clear strong Conservative and he is an asset to the party,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.
Grieve, a former attorney general, was one of the MPs behind the cross-party move to seize control of Commons business to stage a series of indicative votes on alternatives to Theresa May’s deal.
The opposition in the constituency to Grieve is reported to have been organised by the former Ukip candidate who stood against him in the 2017 general election, Jon Conway.
Beaconsfield narrowly voted for Leave in the 2016 referendum by a majority of just 570 votes.
The former chancellor, George Osborne, said party officials had previous intervened in similar situations, and that they should do so again.
A number of Conservative MPs swiftly criticised the no confidence vote after it was announced late on Friday.
Senior Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was “deeply disappointing”.
He tweeted: “Few in parliament have contributed as much to public life as Dominic Grieve. As attorney general and chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee he has served our country dutifully for decades. He deserves thanks and praise, not this. Our party and country would be poorer.”
Former minister Alistair Burt said it was an “extraordinary decision”, adding: “A quality colleague, brave enough to challenge, but fundamentally a Conservative through and through. Where on earth are we heading with situations like this?”
Former Tory MP Anna Soubry, who was also at the forefront of the Remain wing of the Conservative Party until she defected to join the Independent Group, branded the vote “disgraceful”.
She tweeted: “More evidence that the uncompromising dogmatic right is running the @Conservatives #DominicGrieve is one of the finest, most courageous Parliamentarians ever - who has always put his country first & championed all his constituents.”
Several Labour MPs also voiced support for Mr Grieve.
Stella Creasy said the country’s politics “would be poorer without his input”.
She said: “I’m in a different political party to Dominic. We disagree on many things. I doubt Beaconsfield conservatives could find someone more experienced, more capable and more principled than him for their MP.”
Phil Wilson said the vote was “ridiculous”, adding: “I’m not of the same politics as Dominic Grieve but to deselect him as a Conservative candidate is to diminish politics, see an end to political integrity and deprive politics of a sincere and thoughtful practitioner.”