Now McVey won’t give backing to Brexit vision

ESTHER McVey refused to publicly endorse Theresa May’s Brexit plan yesterday in a blow to the Prime Minister’s attempts to restore Cabinet unity.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said she was confident Mrs May will deliver ‘the Brexit that Britain voted for’, but would not give her backing to the proposals agreed by the Cabinet at Chequers.

It came hours after her partner, Tory MP Philip Davies, revealed he has submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM after ‘losing trust’ in her over the deal.

Miss McVey and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt have both been placed on ‘resignation watch’ by Downing Street after privately voicing reservations about the Chequers plan.

Asked at an event hosted by the Reform thinktank whether she had full confidence the in the Chequers plan, Miss McVey replied: ‘I will say that I have full confidence in the Prime Minister to deliver the Brexit that Britain voted for.’

The Prime Minister managed to unite her Cabinet behind her proposals at Chequers and claimed to have restored collective responsibility, but days later both foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis resigned in protest.

At a meeting of the PM’s political cabinet on Tuesday, Mrs May went out of her way to thank Brexiteer Ministers, including Miss McVey, who have resisted pressure to resign over the issue.

A Cabinet source said: ‘She said she recognises that some of them feel under a lot of pressure following Chequers and thanked them for dealing with it.

‘The policy is a change from [her landmark Brexit speech made at] Mansion House but it is the only way to get Brexit through.’