Lord Tebbit says Cameron will have to quit if UK leaves EU

Op-Ed: A veteran Tory politician now a Lord in 'that other place' has said that if the UK EU referendum majority vote is to leave the union David Cameron must surely quit as the country's Prime Minister.

The man telling Cameron he will have to go is Lord Tebbit.

Cameron said ahead of the May 2015 General Election that he did not intend to be in office as Prime Minister come the next general election scheduled for 2020 but how and when he retires from that role is important.

Like so many British PMs Cameron will probably want to go on his terms and at a time to suit; like so many other British PMs he may be denied both options.

Saturday the Daily Mail reports civil war is breaking out in the Tory party and says "Former party chairmen Lord Tebbit and Liam Fox both suggested that the Prime Minister will be forced to step down if Britain votes to leave the EU. They spoke out amid growing Tory anger over Mr Cameron’s increasingly strident warnings about the dangers of Brexit. Writing in yesterday’s Daily Mail, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith accused No 10 of waging a campaign of ‘spin, smears and threats’ in a bid to bully voters into backing the Remain side in June’s referendum."

But before those members of the electorate that hate David Cameron think yippee let's vote to leave and rain on Cameron's parade they must take a deep breath.

Unless there are party sackings or resignations that affect the balance of power in the House of Commons there will not be a general election.

Likely Tory successors to Cameron touted as Theresa May, Boris Johnson and George Osborne will be dusting down their CVs and working behind the scenes to shore up support ready to step into the PMs shoes. But it could be a rank outsider that replaces Cameron as party leader and PM.

There is much more at stake than who will be the next Tory PM of the UK.

The Daily Mail continues "No 10’s approach has enraged many Tories, who feel the Government machine is being deployed in an attempt to crush those bidding to take Britain out of the EU.
In the past fortnight, the Government has published two ‘dodgy’ dossiers on the risks of leaving, big businesses and have been corralled into issuing statement of support for EU membership and French President Francois Hollande was persuaded to warn that Britain would face reprisals if it left. Lord Tebbit said it would now be ‘extraordinarily difficult’ for Mr Cameron to continue in office if Britain votes to leave."

Tebbit is famous to British people of this writer's generation for being caught up in a Tory party bombing and for avidly encouraging the jobless of the UK to cycle more often.

There was a direct bomb attack on the British Government at the Conservative party conference in Brighton in 1984. At least two people died and many others sustained serious injuries, including two senior Cabinet ministers.

"The blast tore apart the Brighton Grand Hotel where members of the Cabinet have been staying for the Conservative party conference. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Dennis narrowly escaped injury."

Mr Tebbit, was shown on TV visibly in pain as he was being stretchered to safety; his wife suffered neck injuries which left her paralysed.

Tebbit was also famous for telling the unemployed of the 80s to get on their bikes to find work which highlighted just how out of touch he was even then. He compared his father's quest for work during the depression to eighties Britain.

Related reading: BCC suspends director general John Longworth over EU stance

[Please bear in mind some of the report is sourced from the Daily Mail which is a right-wing supporting publication-it may or may not be neutral on Brexit also]

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