Tory civil war as Brexit looms large

DOWNING Street is “panicked” over the EU referendum amid growing internal signs that support for the Leave campaign is surging.

Private data and internal polling show that after two weeks of building momentum there have been huge swings to the Brexit campaign, prompting growing alarm in the Remain camp.

It has led to a change in strategy, with the campaign to keep Britain in the EU now orchestrating personal attacks on Boris Johnson, a leader of the Leave campaign.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s team has adopted a “take out Boris strategy” by allowing a Tory cabinet minister to claim he only backed a Brexit to further his ambition to be prime minister and associating him with Nigel Farage, the leader of the rightwing UK Independence Party.

In a sign that the markets believe a Brexit is increasingly likely, the FTSE 100 on Friday had its biggest one-day fall since the beginning of the referendum campaign, falling by 1.86%. The pound also dropped sharply at the start of the weekend as a poll gave Leave a 10-point lead, with 55% of voters now backing a Brexit. It came as: Queen Elizabeth was dragged into the row as Cameron was accused of using the birthday honours list to reward nearly two dozen backers of the Remain campaign;

Sir James Dyson, one of the country’s most notable selfmade billionaires, disclosed that he is joining the Brexit campaign, branding Remain’s warnings about trade as “absolute cobblers”;

Labour’s EU campaign was in chaos as senior figures in the party admitted many of their supporters are now backing a Brexit after Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to vociferously make the case for Remain;

Justice Secretary Michael Gove’s Leave campaign warned that Britain will need seven new prisons by 2030 if immigration is not controlled; and

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has ruled out Britain joining the single market if it votes to leave the EU, declaring that “out is out” for the UK. — © The Daily Telegraph, London