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Brexit: Ministerial aides demand Gavin Williamson’s parliamentary private secretary is sacked over fishing protest

Cabinet ministers’ ministerial aides have “almost unanimously” called on Theresa May to sack Gavin Williamson’s parliamentary aide over her criticism of the Government’s policy on fishing rights after Brexit.

Aides to other ministers used a meeting of Conservative parliamentary private secretaries (PPS’s) on Thursday morning to demand that Downing Street remove Anne-Marie Trevelyan from her post.

Sources told The Independent that an aide to Philip Hammond was among those leading the calls, prolonging a long-standing rift between the Chancellor and the Defence Secretary.

Ms Trevelyan, Mr Williamson’s PPS, took part in a protest on Wednesday in which former Ukip leader Nigel Farage threw a tray of haddock into the River Thames.

The Berwick MP appeared alongside arch Brexiteer Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg at a press conference, along with campaigners from the Fishing for Leave group, although they left before Mr Farage arrived.

Eurosceptics were furious that the transition deal agreed with Brussels will see EU countries retain access to the UK’s fishing waters until 2021.

Conservative whips had ordered MPs not to take part in the protest, and Ms Trevelyan’s participation angered many of her fellow ministerial aides. Although PPS’s are not ministers, their key role as secretary of states’ eyes and ears in Parliament means they are still expected to toe the party line.

Conservative sources said the anger at Ms Trevelyan was partly a result of frustration at Ms May’s previous decision to promote another arch Brexiteer, Suella Fernandes, despite her previously having been seen to speak out against the Government.

As the then chair of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory backbench MPs, Ms Fernandes orchestrated a letter to the Prime Minister last September trying to force her to pursue a hard Brexit – a move that was seen as being incompatible with the MP’s other role as the then PPS to Mr Hammond.

Many Tory MPs were angered when, rather than being punished for speaking out, she was instead promoted by being given a plum role as a Brexit minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union.

Other government PPS’s used a meeting with Ms May’s own parliamentary aides, George Hollingbery and Seema Kennedy, to express their anger and warn that the Prime Minister needed to take a stronger line with Ms Treveylan than she had with Ms Fernandes.

One PPS who attended the meeting told The Independent: “There was a feeling that the Prime Minister had been weak in her handling of Suella Fernandes and it could not happen again in respect to Anne-Marie.

“It was raised that Anne-Marie had basically supported the Farage fish protest and also asked a very unhelpful PMQ.

“It was clearly disloyal - there’s no doubt about that. There was a feeling among the existing PPS group that this should be reflected in her sacking. That feeling was pretty unanimous.”

In response, Mr Hollingbery and Ms Kennedy reportedly said the issue had already been raised at the daily Downing Street strategy meeting on Thursday morning, and promised to report back to Ms May on the strength of feeling among the other PPS’s.

The source said: “Loyalty is important and it’s crucial that everyone from ministers and PPS’s downwards toe the line.

“If the Prime Minister doesn’t sack her it sends the wrong message to backbenchers and gives them carte blanche to do whatever they like. It would make the PM look even weaker.”

It is understood the calls for Ms Trevelyan to be sacked were led by Simon Hoare, the aide to Education Secretary Damian Hinds, and Kwasi Kwarteng, who fills the same role for Mr Hammond.

The involvement of Mr Kwarteng, a fellow Brexiteer of Ms Trevelyan, is likely to fuel rumours of an ongoing rift between the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence.

Earlier this year, the Chancellor’s team reacted angrily to Mr Williamson publicly demanding more money for the military and banning Mr Hammond from using RAF planes until Treasury debts had been paid.

As an extraordinary briefing war unfolded, allies of Mr Hammond suggested Mr Williamson had not yet grasped the complexities of the defence budget and nicknamed him Private Pike in reference to the intellectually-challenged character in the Dad’s Army television series.

The issue of fishing rights during the Brexit transition has caused a major headache for Downing Street after 13 Tory MPs, including Mr Rees-Mogg, warned they would vote down the final Brexit deal if the issue is not resolved.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, they called the current proposals “completely unacceptable”.

Ms Trevelyan also raised the issue of fishing rights with Ms May during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, saying the Government’s deal with the EU had left fisherman “very anxious”.

She said: “The EU agreement published this week has sadly left my fisherman in Amble and the North East very anxious.

“While it is great news that we will regain control of our fishing grounds at the ends of the implementation period, there is real concern that our EU colleagues might try to take advantage of our losing our voting in the [Common Fisheries Policy] by altering discard rules or quota rules during the implementation period.

“Will the Prime Minister consider asking the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to prepare a financial mitigation plan to protect our fleet until 2021 should we need to do so?”

Ms May replied: “The implementation period is there so that people have the certainty of being able to operate on the same basis until we reach the new partnership that we are negotiating. As I said earlier, in that new partnership, we want to take back control of our waters but ensure that British fishermen are not unfairly denied access to other waters and that we can rebuild our fishing industry. That is important.”