- .Michael Heseltine led Tory rebels into the lobbies with Labour and the Lib Dems
- .Peers backed his controversial cross party amendment by a majority of 98
- .Has been dramatically ditched as adviser to Theresa May's government
- .But claimed today that he has never met Mrs May and had to follow his principles
No 10 today insisted Theresa May has met Michael Heseltine hours after he claimed otherwise in an extraordinary public row.
In bizarre scenes, Lord Heseltine announced his own firing last night and today claimed he had never met the Prime Minister despite the pair sharing decades at the top of the Conservative Party.
Mrs May's official spokesman thanked the former Cabinet member for his service in a series of unpaid advisory roles but said his rebellion over the Brexit Bill was not compatible with Government policy.
The sacking was carried out by the Lords chief whip and Mrs May will not send a personal letter, as is convention when ministers are fired.
Lord Heseltine today insisted he had no regrets over rebelling against the party line by backing calls for a 'meaningful' vote on the final Brexit deal last night.
Conservative former Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine has been dramatically sacked as a government adviser after rebelling over Brexit
Lord Fowler announced the Government's second defeat on the Brexit Bill last night, after peers backed a rebel amendment 366 to 268
Peers tonight added this controversial amendment, which lays down the terms of how Parliament will vote on the Brexit deal, to the Article 50 Bill. MPs will vote on whether to delete it again on Monday
The Prime Minister suffered a second defeat over the legislation to authorise the triggering of our EU divorce last night.
Peers backed Lord Heseltine's controversial cross party amendment by a majority of 98, voting 366 to 268 in favour, prompting fury from Brexit Secretary David Davis.
He accused peers of trying to 'frustrate' Britain's exit from the European Union and insisted the Government intends to overturn the result.
Lord Heseltine was asked to help the Government with plans to restore deprived estates under David Cameron and he also worked with George Osborne on plans for east London.
He advised on plans for a Swansea city deal and has been working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The peer was also a national infrastructure commissioner.
Lord Heseltine said he was forced to abandon dinner with his wife to receive his marching orders from chief whip Lord Taylor of Holbeach after the vote and debate on the Brexit Bill, in which he warned that quitting the European Union was the 'most momentous peacetime decision of our time'.
The former deputy prime minister said he knew there could be consequences if he rebelled but he was not warned that he could lose his roles advising the Government on a number of areas, including its industrial strategy.
He said: 'I heard nothing from Number 10, I've had no relationship with Number 10 since the new Prime Minister (Mrs May).
'But I'm not complaining, I was getting on with the job that I was doing.'
He refused to comment on suggestions that his sacking was designed to intimidate Tory MPs who are considering rebelling when the 'meaningful vote' amendment comes back to the Commons on Monday.
'I've never met Theresa May and so I can't make a judgment. She's doing very well in the post, public opinion approves of what she is doing, and so I'm not going to get involved in a sort of tit-tat of personalities,' he said.
'My preoccupation has been from the very beginning that I believe that the referendum result is the most disastrous peacetime result that we've seen in this country.'
The Prime Minister will hope her decisive action will discourage potential Tory rebels in the Commons
Mrs May's official spokesman today insisted: 'My understanding is that the Prime Minister has met Lord Heseltine. The idea that they've not met - I don't think that's right.'
The spokesman added: 'The Government has a clearly-stated, consistent position that the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill should be passed without amendment. This bill has a simple purpose, to trigger Article 50.
'Lord Heseltine, who held a number of government advisory positions, voted against the official position of the Government. The Chief Whip in the House of Lords therefore asked him to stand down from those roles.
'The Government would like to warmly thank Lord Heseltine for his service.'
The peer led the fight for the amendment last night as he warned the final Brexit deal was 'totally unpredictable' and the referendum mandate was not unlimited.
He was later told Prime Minister Theresa May was firing him from his roles advising the Government on a number of areas, including its industrial strategy.
The peer said he was sorry his expertise would no longer be used by the Government but insisted it was Parliament's duty to protect the country's legacy for future generations.
Speaking on the BBC's Today programme, Lord Heseltine said he had 'never met' Mrs May - although he praised her for 'doing well in the polls'.
He said he had been working 'three to four days a week' for the government for the past six years. But the peer insisted he had little choice but to follow his Europhile principles.
'The point comes in life when you have to do what you think is right,' Lord Heseltine said.
Michael Heseltine was the most prominent, controversial, outspoken and effective senior politician of the 1980s and 1990s who never became prime minister. Pictured left, in his robes in 2001 and right, at the Tory party conference in Blackpool in 2007
But Brexit supporters warned the amendment, which demands Parliament has the right to send Mrs May back to Brussels for a better deal, would damage the Government's ability to negotiate.
Lord Forsyth, another ex-Cabinet minister, warned him not to challenge the authority of the Commons, which voted in favour of Article 50, telling him: 'It' s not the moment to grab the Mace'.
This was a reference to the famous moment in 1976 when Heseltine, then a shadow minister, seized the Commons regalia and waved it at the Labour benches after they celebrated a single-vote victory in controversial circumstances.
Mrs May will demand MPs overturn any changes to the Bill when it returns to the Commons on Monday.
The Prime Minister will hope her decisive action will discourage potential Tory rebel MPs.
The legislation, which hands the Prime Minister power to start official Brexit talks, is expected to be law by the middle of next week regardless of defeat tonight.
After the vote, Mr Davis said: 'It is disappointing that the House of Lords has chosen to make further changes to a Bill that the Commons passed without amendment.
'It has a straightforward purpose - to enact the referendum result and allow the Government to get on with negotiating a new partnership with the EU.
'It is clear that some in the Lords would seek to frustrate that process, and it is the Government's intention to ensure that does not happen. We will now aim to overturn these amendments in the House of Commons.'
In his speech, Lord Heseltine said he backed triggering Article 50 in response to the Brexit referendum.
And he praised the Prime Minister's handling of the post referendum period and the formation of her Government.
But of the referendum result, Lord Heseltine said: 'I do not accept that the mandate runs for all time and in all circumstances.
'The 48 per cent have the same right to be heard.'
He went on: 'We now face a protracted period of negotiation. No-one has the first idea of what will emerge.
'No-one can even tell us what governments in Europe will be there to conclude whatever deal emerges.
Above all, he is fated to be remembered as the man who toppled Margaret Thatcher from power. Pictured speaking at Manchester University in November 1983
The Thatcherites who live on in the Conservative Party never forgave him for engineering Mrs Thatcher's downfall. Pictured in 1981 (left) and 1982 (right)
'No-one can say with certainty how British public opinion will react to totally unpredictable events.'
The peer understood it would take 1,600 regulations to 'unravel over 40 years of closer union'.
He said: 'Everyone in this House knows that we now face the most momentous peacetime decision of our time.
'And this amendment secures in law the Government's commitment ... to ensure that Parliament is the ultimate custodian of our national sovereignty.
'It ensures that Parliament has the critical role in determining the future that we will bequeath to generations of young people.'
Lord Forsyth (left) dismissed Lord Heseltine's argument as challenging the authority of the Commons. Former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson (right) admitted the chances of a deal in the two year Article 50 process were slim
Leading Brexiteer Lord Lawson admitted the prospects of getting a deal within the two year Article 50 process were slim.
The former Chancellor said: 'No agreement is by far and away the most likely outcome.
'A bad agreement is all that is likely to be on offer.'
Moving the cross party amendment Lord Pannick - who represented Gina Miller in the Supreme Court case that forced the Bill to be brought - said: 'The purpose of this amendment is very simple.
'It is to ensure that at the end of the negotiating process the approval of Parliament is required for the terms of our withdrawal from the EU.'
He said the Prime Minister's commitment to such a vote should be written into the Bill 'no ifs and no buts'.
The Labour-led amendment, tabled with Lib Dem and crossbench support, also required the approval of both Houses if the Prime Minister decided that the UK should leave the EU without agreement on the terms.
SECOND REFERENDUM WOULD FUEL DIVIDE, WELBY WARNS
Archbishop of Canterbury Justine Welby today warned against a second referendum on Europe
Holding a second referendum on the final Brexit deal would add to the nation's divisions and 'deepen the bitterness', the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.
The Most Rev Justin Welby said last June's vote on leaving the EU has exposed deep splits within society and stressed the need to find 'a level of national reconciliation'.
He also cautioned the Government against any temptation to 'oversimplify' the process, arguing it would be 'dangerous and unwise and wrong' to reduce the terms of divorce from Brussels 'to the result of a binary yes-no choice taken last summer'.
His intervention came on a Liberal Democrat amendment for a second poll tabled for the Brexit Bill. It was heavily defeated by peers.
Alluding to differences of opinion within his own ranks over Brexit, the Archbishop said: 'On these benches we are not a party, nor do we follow a whip.
'We may dress the same but we have independent minds as anyone observing church politics recently will be well aware.'
He said: 'The referendum campaign and its aftermath revealed deep divisions in our societies.
'(A second referendum) will add to our divisions, it will deepen the bitterness. It is not democratic. It is unwise.
'Even if circumstances change ... even if they change drastically, a dangerous and over-complicated process is the result of a referendum.'
'It must be for Parliament to decide whether to prefer no deal or the deal offered by the EU,' Lord Pannick said.
Former Conservative leader Lord Howard said MPs would get a say on the deal no matter what course of action the Government took.
'The Commons will not only have its say, the Commons will have its way,' said Lord Howard.
Mrs May's spokesman made clear there had been no change on the Prime Minister's position on the Brexit bill.
He said: 'She's been clear that she wants an unamended bill to pass. This is a simple bill with one purpose, to give the Government the power to trigger Article 50, that's where we are.'
Asked if the Government intended to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of this month he replied: 'Absolutely.'
Launching the demand for a second referendum, Lord Newby, Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords said: 'It would require any Brexit deal to be put to the people to approve or reject.
'It's based on the principle that having asked the people whether they wished to initiate the Brexit process, only the people should take the final decision.'
Lord Newby denied this amounted to 'sidelining' Parliament and warned of 'corrosive anger' if MPs and peers were to take the final decision going against the majority view at that time.
He said a second referendum would 'hardly impinge' on the Government's timetable for quitting the EU and suggested the question put to voters should be: 'Do you prefer the deal done by the Government or to remain within the EU.'
Challenged by Tory peers that this would provide no incentive for the EU to give the UK a good deal, Lord Newby said our European partners would negotiate in 'good faith' and branded such an 'unfriendly' view as 'deeply depressing'.
Lord Newby's amendment was heavily defeated by peers, ending prospects of a second referendum being added to the Bill.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby urged peers to reject the demand, telling the Lords: 'Another referendum will add to our divisions - it will deepen the bitterness, it is not democratic, it is unwise.'
The Archbishop said instead politicians must 'find a level of national reconciliation'.
Lord Pannick, who represented the Gina Miller in the Supreme Court case that brought about the Bill, led debate on the cross-party amendment
Labour former cabinet minister Lord Hain said Leave voters he spoke to during the referendum campaign 'were voting against something, they were voting against the European Union, but they were not voting in favour of anything'.
He added: 'The Leave campaign left the alternative deliberately ambiguous.'
Lord Hain went on: 'I am not disputing the outcome of June 23. This is not about re-running that referendum. This is about making sure that the democratic process remains democratic. That voters have a final say on the eventual negotiated outcome.'
Ex-Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile of Berriew, who now sits as a non-affiliated peer, said at the time of the EU referendum there had been no suggestion from his former party that there would be a further public vote.
He said: 'It was envisaged by Liberal Democrats that there would be one referendum.'
But his comments led to a dig from the party's former leader Lord Ashdown, who said his 'recall of what positions the Liberal Democrats took in the past has not always been entirely accurate'.
The House of Lords was packed today ahead of the marathon final report and third reading stages
Liberal Democrat leader Lord Newby (left) led calls for a second referendum on the final deal but Lord Carlile (right) warned peers not to 'mess around'
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said a second referendum would only add to divisions in the country
But Lord Carlile hit back, saying: 'He's at his best when he makes points with simplicity. That point was not made with simplicity.'
On Lord Ashdown's recollection, Lord Carlile suggested he had been 'too busy eating his hat', in a gibe at Lord Ashdown wrongly rejecting the shock election night exit poll in 2015, which predicted a Lib Dem bloodbath and disaster for the Labour Party.
Supporting a second vote, Tory peer Baroness Wheatcroft said: 'Although I am not an advocate of government by referendum, in this situation, having started the process with a referendum, it seems to me the only sensible way to bring the process to an end is to put the terms to the public.'
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