City of London MP Mark Field quits over Brexit ‘divisions’
City of London MP and former minister Mark Field has quit as Conservative MP, citing Brexit “divisions”.
Field, who has been elected for the Cities constituency five times, campaigned for Remain during the 2016 referendum. He was suspended as a Foreign Office minister this summer, after a video of him strong-arming a Greenpeace protestor out of a banquet hall emerged.
“The current speculation that a General Election may be imminent has forced me to reach the very difficult decision not to offer myself as your candidate for the next election,” Field said in a statement.
Field said he was “proud of my local reputation as a moderate, consensual MP, invariably keen to work effectively across party lines to the benefit of constituents and communities alike”.
But the MP added this “pragmatic, co-operative approach” had been “tested to destruction in the fractious, febrile and deeply divisive aftermath” of the Brexit vote.
Field wrote: “I had dearly hoped that by the time of the next General Election these issues would have been resolved. However, it is increasingly clear that divisions over Brexit and our future relationship with the EU-27 will dominate and define domestic politics for many years to come.”
Had he not been bound by collective responsibility as a member of government, Field says he would have backed Remain, or even sought for Article 50 to be reveoked.
“As you will appreciate these beliefs stand at odds with the current administration’s impatient approach to getting Brexit done,” he added. “Yet even if the current proposed deal passes – and naturally I shall support it – we must be clear what lies ahead will not be plain sailing.
“Having watched many colleagues follow this path in recent torrid months, I have no desire to become a disaffected, dissenting voice from the backbenches, undermining a government under whose colours I have been elected.”
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