Michael Heseltine has said after being sacked from the government that he will continue to fight against Britain leaving the EU – and has been chastised on television for saying Theresa May has a “man-sized” job to do.
Heseltine, 83, a former deputy prime minister nicknamed “Tarzan” for his mane of hair, said he was called away from dinner with his wife late Tuesday to be sacked.
The 83-year-old – who dramatically walked out of Thatcher’s cabinet during a row over Westland helicopters in 1986 – served as a minister in both her and John Major’s Conservative governments in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Conservative former deputy prime minister lost his five government jobs for leading a Lords rebellion over Brexit. He said he had to keep opposing a policy he thought was wrong, just as the Brexiters would never have stopped fighting to leave the EU if the referendum result had gone the other way.
Lord Heseltine, 83, was sacked from his advisory roles on Tuesday night after he gave a prominent speech in favour of giving parliament a veto over the outcome of May’s Brexit talks with Brussels.
Explaining that he had never met May as prime minister, he told Sky News’s Sarah-Jane Mee: “I don’t in any way criticise her for this. She has got a man-sized job to do and she’s very busy.”
“She’s got a man-sized job? It’s a woman-sized job now,” Mee said, pointing out it was International Women’s Day. Heseltine replied: “I find myself chastised by you, and you are quite right.”
Speaking earlier on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Heseltine said the prime minister had “entirely the right” to sack him but added: “I’m sorry that the expertise which I have put at the government’s disposal over the last six years has now come to an end”.
Explaining his decision to keep opposing Brexit, he said: “My preoccupation has been from the very beginning I believe the referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result we have seen in this country.”
Heseltine said he had been “meticulous” in not speaking to the press since the referendum result but added: “The point comes in life that you have to do what I believe to be right.
“I know these Brexiteers backwards. I have lived with them in government and opposition. They never give up. Why shouldn’t people like me argue in the other camp?”
“It’s the duty of parliament to assert its sovereignty in determining the legacy we leave to new generations of young people,” he added.
Former Conservative chief whip Mark Harper said that it was “quite reasonable” to sack Lord Heseltine for opposing government policy.
Late on Tuesday, the House of Lords passed the Brexit bill, giving May the right to trigger Article 50, after insisting on two changes: a guarantee of the rights of EU citizens to reside in the UK and a more meaningful parliamentary vote at the end of Brexit talks.
Attention now switches to the Commons, where MPs will consider whether to keep or throw out the amendments.
A band of Tory MPs is pushing May to make concessions on giving parliament a more meaningful say at the end of the two-year negotiations. But the government has insisted it wants to overturn the Lords amendments, saying it would be against the national interest to tell EU countries that parliament would have a right of veto over any deal.
Heseltine was brought in by former prime minister David Cameron to advise the government on a range of projects, including schemes in east London and Swansea.
The sacking was interpreted by some commentators as a warning to potential Conservative rebels in the elected lower House of Commons not to vote against the government.
Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper said it was “quite reasonable” to sack Lord Heseltine for opposing government policy.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said some in the Lords are seeking to “frustrate” Brexit but it was the government’s intention to ensure that did not happen.
When the bill returns to the Commons next week ministers will have some persuading to do to reverse the Lords changes, but Theresa May remains on course to trigger Article 50 and begin Brexit negotiations before the end of this month.