BACK ME OR I’LL SACK YOU

PM’s warning to rebels as they threaten to block No Deal

BORIS Johnson last night vowed to boot out any Conservative MPs who try to block a No Deal Brexit.

Likely rebels are being warned they will have the whip withdrawn if they join up with the Opposition this week.

This would stop them standing as Tory party candidates at a general election that could be called within days.

The rebels were due to meet the Prime Minister for ‘peace talks’ this afternoon but he pulled out. An insider said he felt there was no point in speaking to them.

Mr Johnson and party whips agreed the tough tactics over a lamb curry lunch at Chequers yesterday. Also present was the PM’s chief aide, Dominic Cummings, who has vowed to use ‘any means necessary’ to leave the EU by October 31.

Tomorrow a cross-party group plans to take over the Commons agenda to pass a law ruling out No Deal and ordering Mr Johnson to seek another extension.

Up to 20 Tory MPs, including former Cabinet ministers Philip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart, are threatening to support the move. This could wreck the PM’s ‘do or die’ departure promise.

Sources in the rebel camp said Mr Johnson’s decision to cancel today’s talks suggested no progress had been made with Brussels. ‘People were going in seeking proof of genuine attempts to get a deal,’ they said. ‘The fact it has been cancelled

at short notice suggests there isn’t a proper negotiation going on. the next point of engagement will be in the voting lobbies.’

Other sources confirmed some mps could form an ‘Independent Conservatives’ grouping to fight a snap election in opposition to No Deal. In other developments:

mr Johnson and michael Gove, who is in charge of No Deal planning, both yesterday refused to rule out calling an election;

mr Gove also suggested the prime minister could ignore a law ruling out No Deal, a prospect Jeremy Corbyn described as a ‘full blown attack on our constitution’;

the eU’s michel barnier rejected mr Johnson’s demand to drop the Irish backstop and said he was ‘not optimistic about avoiding No Deal’;

the Archbishop of Canterbury told remainers to ‘stop whingeing’ about brexit;

tony blair urged labour to back a second referendum, saying an election was a trap;

mr Gove launched a £100million public information campaign on No Deal called ‘Get ready for brexit’;

the british medical Association said No Deal could see the ‘disintegration’ of the NHS.

A source in the tory whips office last night confirmed that the order had gone out that mps who rebel would be expelled from the parliamentary party.

the insider said: ‘the whips are telling Conservative mps today a very simple message – if they fail to vote with the Government on tuesday they will be destroying the Government’s negotiating position and handing control of parliament to Jeremy Corbyn. Any Conservative mp who does this will have the whip withdrawn and will not stand as a Conservative candidate in an election.

‘there is a chance of a deal next month only because brussels realises the prime minister is totally committed to leaving on

‘Destroying our negotiating position’

October 31. All mps face a simple choice on tuesday: to vote with the Government and preserve the chance of a deal or vote with Corbyn and destroy any chance of a deal.’

mr Gauke yesterday indicated he was prepared to lose the whip in order to rule out No Deal and warned this would ‘split the Conservative party’. the former justice secretary said: ‘Sometimes there is a point where you have to judge between your own personal interests and the national interest, and the national interest has to come first.

‘but I hope it doesn’t come to that and cooler and calmer heads will look at this.’

Allies of mr Johnson believe the prospect of immediate expulsion could persuade many of the rebels to back down.

However a source in the rebel camp said mr Johnson’s deselection threat smacked of ‘sheer hypocrisy’.

the source added: ‘this is about the national interest, and we’ve moved beyond the point where threats will persuade people to abandon their principles.’

Keir Starmer, labour’s brexit spokesman, said the legislation this week was designed