Dave twists knife on Brexit

Now Cameron calls for May to talk to Labour about a ‘softer’ approach

DAVID Cameron made a dramatic bid to hijack the PM’s Brexit plans yesterday – calling for her to talk to Labour about a ‘softer’ approach.

As Theresa May prepares to begin Brussels negotiations, the former prime minister intervened to say she had to ‘listen to other parties’.

It follows calls by Tory figures such as former leader William Hague for Mrs May to reach out to Labour, possibly through a cross-party commission.

Yesterday, it also emerged Chancellor Philip Hammond had told his German counterpart that Britain’s Brexit policy could change following last week’s election setback.

Any move to change course on Brexit risks a Tory civil war, with backbenchers’ support for the PM dependent on her not backing down.

Last night, Mrs May signalled she was still determined to pull out of both the single market and the customs union by appointing a leading Eurosceptic as Brexit minister.

Steve Baker, who led a backbench group of pro-Brexit Tory MPs during the EU referendum campaign, was promoted during her reshuffle.

But in his first public comments since the election, Remain supporter Mr Cameron tried to turn the heat up on his successor. He told a conference in Poland: ‘It’s going to be difficult, there’s no doubt about that, but perhaps an opportunity to consult more widely with the other parties on how best we can achieve it. I think there will be pressure for a softer Brexit’.

Mr Cameron said Parliament ‘deserves a say’ on the issue.

The former prime minister also highlighted the stance of Scottish Conservatives’ leader Ruth Davidson, who has called for a more ‘open Brexit’.

With 13 seats north of the Border, she is in a powerful position when it comes to votes. Mr Camsaid: eron said: ‘Scotland voted against Brexit.

‘I think most of the Scottish Conservatives will want to see perhaps some changes with the policy going forward.’

But new Environment Secretary Michael Gove dismissed the idea of compromise on the key principles of leaving the single market and customs union, and ending free movement.

The leading Leave campaigner ‘If you want maximum possible support, you have to engage in open conversations, but you stay true to your principles.’

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski served notice on Mrs May that his support was conditional on sticking to the manifesto plan.

He said: ‘I can only support a leader of the party if they implement what the British people voted for, which is clean Brexit. Anything less than that I would have great difficulty with.’

And a Eurosceptic minister said: ‘It is quite simple. If she starts backsliding on Brexit she will be out. The Tory Party will probably implode and you will have another election.’

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith also warned against re-opening the party’s plans, pointing out that Labour’s manifesto also committed to ending free movement – meaning more than 80 per cent of the electorate had backed a clean break.

He told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show: ‘The vast majority of the Tory Party believe this is a settled issue. The truth is we’re going into negotiations.’

Guy Verhofstadt, the Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament, yesterday said that the EU was now impatient for the talks to start.

It came as German minister Wolfgang Schauble revealed that Mr Hammond had told him senior Tories believed their failure to secure a majority was due in part to a Brexit backlash by younger voters.

It will fuel speculation the Chancellor is leading a Cabinet push to water down Brexit.

He is due to make a speech on Brexit tomorrow and sources say he will set out a ‘pragmatic’ approach to leaving the EU.

Tory MP Philip Davies last night said that Mr Hammond was wrong to view the Conservatives’ election failure as a backlash against the referendum result.

He said: ‘The election was not a verdict on Brexit – he’s talking absolute rubbish.

‘It was about austerity and social care and if the Chancellor had knocked on a few doors in the North of England he would know that.

‘If we don’t deliver on Brexit we will be wiped out.’

But former Tory prime minister Sir John Major said singlemarket membership – which would mean keeping free movement – should be put back ‘on the table’.

He claimed that many voters backed Leave ‘for reasons entirely unconnected with the EU’. The leading Remain campaigner said: ‘The election changed everything. The views of the 48 per cent cannot be brushed aside as some of the more vigorous hardline Brexiteers wish.’

‘If she backslides she’ll be out’