Winston Churchill's grandson warns no deal Brexit 'most serious crisis' since World War Two

Winston Churchill's grandson Sir Nicholas Soames has warned a no deal Brexit is "the most serious crisis to face this country since 1945".

The Conservative MP made the comments at an Edinburgh Fringe Festival event on Tuesday evening with LBC broadcaster Iain Dale.

He said a "government of national unity" was “quite within the realms of what might happen” if a deal was not agreed to by Westminster before the UK leaves the EU.

“There is a view that you could end up in a position where the only solution was to have a government of national unity,” Soames said.

“And I think governments of national unity have their place in this country at times of great difficulty, so 1938 was definitely an occasion for a national government, and if all else fails here – it may well be that the government of national unity would be the only answer here.”

The comments come one day after the Financial Times reported “remainer” members of parliament were considering a plan to install a “unity prime minister” to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson and delay Brexit before calling a general election.

Under their plan, a government of national unity comprised of MPs from different parties would only exist for a few days with the sole purpose of asking the EU to delay Brexit by extending Article 50

Asked if he would lead a government of national unity, Soames responded: “Certainly."

He said the leader would be “the sort of person who will emerge from smoke filled rooms” and put forward Labour MP Margaret Beckett as his choice.

“You would have to get them all together… I don’t know who the Scottish National Party would want in London,” he said.

“I’ll tell you who would be in the frame, someone like Margaret Beckett, who’s a very experienced former Labour minister, devoted to her country.”

Soames, a staunch “remainer”, warned that a no deal Brexit would be “very bad news” for the UK, saying: “I think it’s the most serious crisis to face this country since 1945.”

“It’s going to make us less independent, less influential and less secure,” he said.

He said he did not think Johnson had “made an effort with the Europeans to negotiate” a deal before the Brexit deadline and warned that was “a great mistake”.

Soames spoke openly about his refusal to vote for Johnson in the Tory leadership contest, which he labelled “a race to the bottom”.

“I don’t buy the thing, by the way, that Boris is masquerading as Churchill. I think he admired my grandfather, greatly, and that he sees there are great lessons to be learned from Churchill’s life,” Soames said.

“I didn’t vote for Boris, and I’m not pleased with Boris, but I absolve him of that particular charge. The charge I do not absolve him of, is wanting to have a no deal Brexit, which I think would be a disaster for my country.”

However, Soames said he “did not think” he would vote if a no confidence motion was brought against the PM.

He said he worried about how the Tory party had moved “into a sort of semi-nationalist, moving to the right Conservative Party”.

“Brexit has distorted the whole view of everything in British politics,” Soames said.

“I am just unable to explain how the Tory party has morphed from what I joined.

“This is a difficult time in politics and the views that need to be talked about and the issues that need to be talked about have been sucked out of political life by this dreadful Brexit drama. It’s all consuming in our political life today.”