Get a spine, Mrs May

Tory tells PM to sling Brexit hardliners out of the party

THERESA May has become engulfed in a Tory civil war, with one MP ordering her to “get a spine” and stand up to hardline Brexiteers.

Former Tory minister Anna Soubry last night threatened to quit if the Prime Minister refused to “sling out” the group of 35 troublemaker MPS from the party.

And it emerged Boris Johnson plans to make a speech on his vision for a “liberal Brexit” on February 14.

Tory sources warned the Foreign Secretary could spark a “Valentine’s Day massacre”, as it will clash with a key Brexit speech by Mrs May days later.

Ms Soubry spoke out after the EU’S chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned the UK’S Brexit plans would create “unavoidable” barriers to trade.

She blamed the influence of Tory Brexiteers for the PM insisting on leaving the customs union and single market.

Ms Soubry also feared Mrs May would fail to stop Mr Johnson and Jacob Reesmogg – future leadership favourites among Tories – taking over the party.

She said: “My front bench is in hock to 35 hard ideological Brexiteers who are not Tories. They’re not the party I joined 40 years ago and it’s about time Theresa stood up to them and slung ’em out.” She added: “I’m not going to stay in a party which has been taken over by the likes of Jacob Rees-mogg and Boris Johnson. “They’re not proper Conservatives.” While a Tory source said of Mr Johnson’s speech, due days ahead of the PM’S one in Munich, Germany: “It is being pitched as a bid to unify the party. But with the way things are, it could easily end up as a Valentine’s Day massacre.”

Meanwhile, Mrs May’s own ministers branded her new seven-point Government mission statement “pathetic”. It lays out her vision for the country, including the economy and housing.

But one minister said: “This is just a list of anaemic bromides. It’s pathetic.”

And three ex-tory ministers branded her planned reforms to solve the housing crisis “weak”, as they may not go as far as to extend development rights.

One of them, John Penrose, chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group on housing, said: “We’ve simply got to build more homes... otherwise a generation will stay locked out of home ownership.”

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