ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SKY NEWS, SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY

SOPHY RIDGE: Just before Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, three Conservative MPs walked across the floor of the House of Commons to sit with the former Labour MPs in the newly formed Independent Group. It was a pretty stunning sight. Well joining us now is the man responsible for party management, the Conservative Party Chairman, Brandon Lewis and thanks for being on the show this morning.

BRANDON LEWIS: Good morning.

SR: How did you feel when you heard the news that you were going to lose these three Conservatives?

BRANDON LEWIS: Sad actually, it’s always regrettable when you lose colleagues and I’ve known Anna for a very, very long time, we were both up in Nottinghamshire together as candidates many years ago so it is really sad to lose colleagues who feel so passionately about a particular issue.

SR: Did you try and stop them leaving?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well the first I knew of them definitely leaving was pretty much around the time they announced it and it was a real surprise and a real shame actually. It always is, if you lose a colleague, particularly colleagues you have worked with and I was out with a big number of our party members yesterday who have helped work over the years to get people elected, it’s always regrettable but these are, we have got to understand that these three colleagues, ex-colleagues, have very strong views about what they stand for and we have got to respect them. We may not agree with it but we have to respect it.

SR: You are saying you have to respect it but you don’t agree with it and obviously I know you are talking about Brexit there but they have other issues with the direction that the Conservative party is going in as well, like for example at the resignation they said that the Conservative party has abandoned its modernising values and it’s shifting to the right. Are you going to do any soul searching and take these concerns on board?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well I think if we look at what’s happened this week, there’s a big difference. We have seen a group of Labour MPs leave the Labour party primarily, as they said, over racism, anti-Semitism, a toxic environment. I think that is a very sad state of affairs and …

SR: But there is a toxic environment in the Conservative party as well isn’t there?

BRANDON LEWIS: Whereas our colleagues have left primarily over a policy issue which is really regrettable but in terms of where we stand as a party, I would just say look, this is a party that has seen record levels of employments, record levels of low unemployment, wages are now rising faster than inflation, we’ve got record investments in the NHS, 2.1 million more people since 2010 being seen in good and outstanding hospitals, almost 2 million more being taught in good and outstanding schools and …

SR: You sound like you are in [inaudible] mode there.

BRANDON LEWIS: Well actually it is about being very clear about the things we are doing to make sure that we are a country and a government that is working for the country that delivers for everybody and gives them the opportunity of social mobility and I think that is being [inaudible] and within the party where we have seen more women, over 400 more women looking to get involved and expressing interest in standing for the party, doing more with the BAME communities who we certainly want to be connected with and have them represent us across the country.

SR: Well let’s talk about that shall we, talking about how you have got more women coming forward. It’s not a good look is it to have three women who are leaving the Conservative party? You are obviously keen to focus on the reasons that are Brexit but these are women who, some of them were facing deselection, we have seen them being abused and hounded on Twitter because of some of their views. Is it a toxic atmosphere in the Conservative party as well, surely this is on your watch as Party Chairman?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well let me just correct something there, none of them were subject to a deselection process. In this parliament no Conservative MP has been and at this point in time there are no Conservative MPs at risk of or going through a deselection process, it just formally isn’t factually correct. There is actually I do think, and I have spoken about this with you before on this programme, I think there is a growing toxic atmosphere online. Sarah herself, Sarah Wollaston, outlined this challenge that’s come in from some organisations on the right – they are not necessarily Conservative party members I have to say. We’ve seen it from the hard left, we’ve seen it from some on the hard right and I think it’s one of the reasons it’s important we get this White Paper out in terms of how the digital world is working because I think there is a real problem for us all in society that the digital world, on social media people feel that sometimes they have this cloak of anonymity and they can behave in a way that face to face and in public life should not be acceptable.

SR: Do you think you should do more to support Conservative MPs who are facing that kind of abuse?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well we are always working with colleagues, I’ve been talking to colleagues over the last few days as well about what we can do …

SR: But what is the real answer to this?

BRANDON LEWIS: One of the real challenges is when you have got people online, and in most of these cases these are not Conservative party members, some of the examples I’ve been shown over the last few weeks of abuse are coming in from the hard left or from Leave.eu, they are not Conservative party members, they don’t stand for the principles we stand for and we will not tolerate it. I have to say very clearly, if we see abuse or bullying within the Conservative party, from Conservative party members, activists, elected representatives, we will deal with it and we have done at every opportunity.

SR: In their resignation letter they also said this: “The shift to the right has been exaggerated by blatant entryism, a purple momentum is subsuming the Conservative party.” Are they right?

BRANDON LEWIS: No, they’re not actually. I have to say we have been working very hard over the last year to increase our membership, I want people to join our party who have not been members of parties before and from other parties. In fact just on Wednesday we had a Labour councillor join the Conservative party making us the largest party on Brighton Council, leaving Labour again because of anti-Semitism. We had a councillor leaving the Liberal Democrats joining us last week and that’s a good thing, that’s a positive thing because we are a party that wants to represent people from all over the county and from all backgrounds and all beliefs in the past.

SR: Okay, now we have to talk about Brexit. The Prime Minister is trying to negotiate with other EU leaders in Egypt, is there any chance that a deal could be ready next week?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well this conference out in Sharm-el-Sheikh itself is not a Brexit conference, we are very clear about that, although it does give the Prime Minister an opportunity obviously to speak to other leaders again …

BRANDON LEWIS: Well

SR: She’ll be meeting other leaders.

BRANDON LEWIS: She’ll be meeting other leaders, yes, but it’s not a Brexit meeting in itself and it’s about wider issues, security etc as well with the League of Arab Nations as well but I think over its period the conversations and the negotiations are ongoing and I am actually very confident and optimistic that we will get an agreement that means we can get a deal we can put to Parliament and get a deal and leave the EU on the 29th March with a deal.

SR: Well the 29th March is a key date isn’t it because we’ve had some members of the Cabinet coming forward to say that if there’s no agreement then they would like to vote for an extension to Article 50, a delay to Brexit. Should there be a free vote because if there isn’t then they are really defying Cabinet law aren’t they?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well at the core of their article, actually the point they are making is that they support the Prime Minister’s deal and they want us to get this deal through. I am not going to get into hypothetical …

SR: Oh come on …

BRANDON LEWIS: No, no, the reality is that we’re all focused on getting a solution to the backstop issue, that issue that is concerning most people in Parliament …

SR: Would you have a free vote?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well one of the things that Parliament has already voted on is that Parliament has got a clear majority for the Prime Minister’s deal with the solutions to the concerns about the backstop. That’s where the Prime Minister and the Cabinet’s focus should be and is.

SR: Okay and there are some reports that you were trying to persuade the Prime Minister to make changes to the backstop rather than pivoting to a softer Brexit on the back of Labour votes. How important do you think it is that the deal goes through on the back of Conservative votes rather than Labour votes? I mean are you basically putting your party before your country here?

BRANDON LEWIS: Well I never comment on private conversations either with the Prime Minister or within Cabinet but what I would say is actually is that if we have already got that vote in Parliament for the Prime Minister’s deal with a solution on the backstop, the Brady Amendment that Graham Brady put forward that has got that majority, it is important that we focus on doing that so we get it through Parliament. That’s the majority in Parliament and I am pleased if that would actually take the Conservative party through the same lobby’s together, that’s the right thing to do because we are government but ultimately it is about getting that majority in Parliament. The Brady Amendment showed exactly where that majority is, it’s getting the Prime Minister’s deal with a solution to the backstop and that means we leave on the 29th March with a deal with the European Union.

SR: Are you worried you are going to lose more Conservative MPs in between that time?

BRANDON LEWIS: I’m focused on actually getting that deal through and I believe that if we get that deal agreed with a solution to the backstop, we can do that as one party together. I think it is important that we do what we can to get that deal agreed so that we can get back to focusing on the issues that on doorsteps even yesterday and on Friday and on other days this week, my residents and those across the country are talking to us about good schools, good hospitals, making sure that their bins are collected, making sure that the potholes are being filled, those issues that affect us every day.

SR: I look forward to doing lots of interviews about bins and potholes in the future, thank you very much.