I STAND TO FIGHT

After Cabinet bruising battle PM five-hour wins support for Brexit deal – but Tory rebels threaten coup to topple her in days . . .

THERESA May last night vowed to press ahead with her Brexit agreement despite opposition from a third of her Cabinet and a coup threat from Tory MPs.

The Prime Minister had emerged from a bruising five-hour Cabinet meeting to claim a decisive breakthrough. Standing on the steps of No 10, she said a ‘long, detailed and impassioned debate’ had ended with a collective decision to back the settlement with Brussels. But with Brexiteer MPs threatening to spark

a leadership contest unless she changes course, she acknowledged that ‘difficult days’ lay ahead.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell and 12 other Scots Tory MPs threw down the gauntlet to Mrs May when they all signed a letter warning her against any backsliding on pledges to take back control of the UK’s fishing grounds.

Sources on the European Research Group (ERG) of backbench Tories said it was a question of ‘when, not if’ pro-Brexit MPs force a vote of no confidence, possibly tomorrow.

Conor Burns, a former aide to Boris Johnson, led the way, saying: ‘I have consistently said we don’t want to change the PM, we want to change the policy of the PM. However, there comes a point where if the PM is insistent that she will not change the policy, then the only way to change the policy is to change the personnel.’

ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg last night wrote to Brexiteer MPs urging them to oppose a deal he said would make the UK a ‘permanent rule-taker’.

A Cabinet source said No 10 feared Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab would walk out of Government because of concerns over key elements of the agreement.

Another insider said the agreement was approved by only a ‘slim majority’, with ten ministers raising ‘serious concerns’.

Mrs May turned down repeated requests from Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey to put the deal to a vote, saying she preferred to judge ‘the mood in the room’. Miss McVey told the meeting she was ‘opposed to the deal’.

A source said: ‘Esther is the closest to going. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has walked out before the night is over.’

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he ‘could not see a way out’ of the controver-

‘Fully supporting the Prime Minister’

sial Irish ‘backstop’, which could leave the UK in a customs union with the EU.

Mr Javid urged the PM to go back to Brussels and try to renegotiate the arrangement, but acknowledged that ‘perfection is a pipe dream’.

Allies insisted Mr Javid’s criticism was constructive and he supported the PM.

Mr Raab and attorney general Geoffrey Cox are also said to have raised concerns about the ‘backstop’ plans.

Several ministers, including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, warned the deal was set to be rejected by MPs.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt urged Mrs May to ‘dig in and fight for more concessions from Europe’. Miss Mordaunt, tipped as a minister who could resign, also called on Mrs May to allow MPs outside the Cabinet a free vote on the deal, arguing it would make it easier to survive if the vote is lost.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove is said to have been the only Brexiteer minister fully signed up to the plans.

One source said the mood was ‘much worse’ than at the end of the Chequers summit in July, which led to the resignations of Mr Johnson and David Davis. But No 10 said no one had threatened to resign, and that ministers had even finished the meeting with a glass of wine.

The marathon Cabinet meeting overran by two hours, meaning plans for Mr Raab to fly to Brussels for a joint press conference with Michel Barnier last night were cancelled.

A Whitehall source acknowledged ministers were being asked to swallow ‘some uncomfortable stuff’, but insisted the length of the meeting was not a sign of dissent.

‘The truth is there are 30 of them and they all wanted their ten-minute say,’ the source said.

The row came as the 585-page withdrawal deal, and a short statement on the future partnership with the EU were published. The documents revealed:

The EU has agreed plans for ‘zero tariff’ trade with the UK, with no quotas and exports – potentially the most comprehensive trade deal it has with any country;

Northern Ireland will have to retain ‘full alignment’ with a string of single market regulations in order to prevent a hard border. New regulatory checks will also be introduced on some goods flowing between the Province and the rest of the UK;

The UK will not have the ‘unilateral’ right to withdraw from the ‘backstop’ plans, having to rely instead on a joint arrangement;

Britain’s transition could be extended – at a price – beyond its planned end in December 2020, but MPs will get a vote on the end date;

Fresh questions about the continued role of the European Court of Justice, with the documents making 63 separate references to the court.

Michel Barnier last night declared that ‘decisive progress’ had been made, paving the way for EU leaders to debate the agreement at an emergency summit in Brussels on November 25.

Mrs May will face MPs this morning when she makes a Commons statement outlining the plans.

Last night she insisted the settlement was in the national interest.

She said: ‘When you strip away the detail, the choice before us is clear: this deal, which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects jobs, security and our Union; or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all.

‘I know that there will be difficult days ahead. This is a decision which will come under intense scrutiny, and that is entirely as it should be and entirely understandable.

‘But the choice was this deal, which enables us to take back control and to build a brighter future for our country, or going back to square one with more division, more uncertainty and a failure to deliver on the referendum.’

Chancellor Philip Hammond last night briefed business leaders that the proposals would protect the economy from the ‘horrific’ impact of a no-deal exit.

But he warned them: ‘Nobody is pretending that we have a perfect solution that will give everyone everything they wanted.’

The provisions on Northern Ireland last night threatened to end the ‘confidence and supply’ deal with the DUP that props up Mrs May’s Government at Westminster.

The Democratic Unionist Party indicated it would vote against the deal. Leader Arlene Foster, who was due to meet Mrs May last night, warned she would face ‘consequences’ if she pressed ahead.

Mr Barnier’s deputy Sabine Weyand sparked fury after briefing EU member states that the deal would make the customs union ‘the basis of the future relationship’, allowing Brussels to ‘retain all the controls’ over relevant British laws.

Damian Green, Mrs May’s former deputy, appealed to critics on both sides of the debate to remain calm and accept the compromises negotiated by the PM.

Mr Green said: ‘The vote was 52:48. The message that sends to me is that we have to leave, but we have to leave in a way that is not extreme.’

‘This enables us to take back control’

AFTeR a day of high drama – and an agonisingly prolonged Cabinet meeting – Theresa May emerged from No 10 last night with all her best qualities on display. In her statement, she showed her calmness under stress, her indomitable resilience and her dogged determination to serve the nation, no matter what enemies or fate might hurl at her.

Now, after five long hours of debate and patient persuasion, she had earned her reward by securing collective agreement to her Brexit transition deal from a ministerial team embracing widely divergent views.

This was a formidable achievement. Indeed, it must be fair to say that no other Conservative could have pulled it off, keeping Brexit on course and the Cabinet behind its leader (for now, at least).

Yet incredibly, this was the moment hardline Tory Brexiteers chose to declare open war on the Prime Minister, vowing to trigger a leadership contest that could throw thousands of hours of negotiations back to square one and cause turmoil at home.

More extraordinary still, they hadn’t even read the deal against which they huffed and puffed so vehemently, brushing aside Mrs May’s assurances that it offers almost everything they’ve demanded.

Leave aside the damage to the economy if the agreement collapses – and the billions in investment waiting to be unleashed if it goes through, ending almost two-and-ahalf years of uncertainty for businesses.

In this imperfect world, Mrs May’s deal offers the only hope of an orderly withdrawal acceptable to Brussels – while tearing it up would put any form of Brexit in doubt.

Indeed, it would play into the hands of those demanding a second referendum to overturn the first. And where would that leave the Brexiteers’ hopes of ending free movement and regaining control of our borders, trade, money and laws?

Worse, their suicidal threat to topple Mrs May could open No 10 to Jeremy Corbyn – and put an unreconstructed Marxist in charge of the nation’s purse strings.

Will the die-hards never get the message that Britain is fed up with their posturing? The public want Brexit pushed through, with the best deal Brussels is prepared to sign. As she showed again yesterday, Mrs May is surely the leader to achieve it. COMMENT