PM faces Tory rebellion over Chequers, claims ex-minister
Up to 80 Conservative MPs are prepared to vote against the Prime Minister if her Chequers plan forms the basis of the final deal on Brexit, a former DexEU minister has claimed.
Steve Baker, who resigned alongside Brexit secretary David Davis over disagreements with Theresa May's Brexit blueprint, told newswire PA that the party faces "a catastrophic split if the Chequers proposals are carried forward".
"It is absolutely no pleasure whatsoever to me to acknowledge that, but I look at the mood of colleagues and the mood of the Conservative Party in the country and I am gravely concerned for the future of our party."
Baker said he believed the party could end next month's conference "united around the idea that we can either leave having accepted the EU offer or we have to leave with nothing agreed ".
It is not just pro-Brexit MPs who are fighting the Prime Minister's softer approach: party members are furious at what they see as a betrayal of the referendum, and are planning to deploy a series of tactics at the party conference in the hope of forcing her hand.
But the Chequers proposal was "not acceptable as a lasting basis for our partnership", adding: "What we need out of conference is a new resolve that these are the choices before us."
He insisted Tory critics of Chequers "do not want to be in a position of conflict with our own Prime Minister".
Baker is a member of the European Research Group – which was earmarked to publish the first tranche of an alternative Brexit plan yesterday, however Morning Wire revealed last week it had been pulled at the last minute.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson had been expected to endorse the plan but is thought to have backed out at the last minute.
However he sparked his own controversy this weekend after penning a column for the Mail on Sunday in which he called May's Chequers proposal "a suicide vest" around the UK, with Brussels left holding the detonator.
This morning, a Number 10 spokesman rubbished Baker's comments, saying “Chequers is the only plan on the table that will deliver on the will of the British people while avoiding a hard border in Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister is working hard to secure a deal and hopes all MPs will be able to support it.
On Johnson's column, he added: "This is not language that the prime minister would choose to use. Beyond that, I don’t plan on giving this article further oxygen."