LONDON — As Westminster waits for a Brexit deal (again), Rishi Sunak is already tasking key allies with selling it to his grumbling MPs.
The British prime minister is looking to secure a resolution to the long-running post-Brexit row between the U.K. and EU over trading rules in Northern Ireland. As well as finding a deal Brussels can live with, Sunak will also have to contend with trying to please his own arch-Eurosceptic MPs.
As negotiations continue, here are the six men Sunak’s team trusts to convince Tory Brexiteers he’s the man with a plan.
Chris Heaton-Harris: Northern Ireland secretary and former chief whip. Central to the negotiations and now central to selling an agreement to Tory MPs. As a former chairman of the European Research Group of Conservative MPs, his Brexiteer credentials are impeccable and this means his views on the deal will carry weight with Eurosceptics. “He’s telling everyone how good it is,” a senior Tory told the FT.
Craig Williams: Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary. Key intermediary between MPs and the prime minister, described by one MP as a “gatekeeper to make sure people get to talk to ministers for the reassurance they need.” The 37-year-old is also trusted by Sunak’s inner circle. Has some Brexit scars, having served as a special adviser to Steve Barclay in DExEU — the former Department for Exiting the European Union.
Rupert Yorke: No. 10’s parliamentary link man. Veteran of Brexit crises, having worked in No. 10 as an adviser to former prime minister Theresa May. Was part of the No. 10 and No. 11 economic unit set up by the then-No. 10 aide Dominic Cummings to jointly support Johnson and Sunak. Helped Sunak to up his parliamentary support during the 2022 leadership contests.
John Bew: No. 10’s foreign policy supremo. Member of Belfast academic royalty, as the son of distinguished historian Paul Bew, who helped shape the Good Friday Agreement. Flew out to speak to key Democratic Unionist Party figures last week ahead of Sunak’s visit. U.K. negotiators Mark Davies and Brendan Threlfall have also been key to those efforts.
Oliver Lewis: Former Vote Leave man, who deputized for former Brexit negotiator David Frost when he was negotiating a Brexit deal. Was later Johnson’s adviser on keeping the United Kingdom together for a bit. Now working in an unpaid capacity for Downing Street to help with efforts to win over wary ERG MPs.
James Forsyth: Close friend of Sunak’s from his school days who was reportedly best man at his wedding. Well-connected among Tory MPs after around two decades of working as a political journalist, most recently as political editor at the right-wing Spectator magazine. Those links will now be key to his role as No. 10 political secretary.
