He must go, say Cameron’s Tory enemies
TORY in-fighting over the Brexit debate erupted into open warfare yesterday as MPs went public to demand the toppling of David Cameron for telling ‘outright lies’.
Nadine Dorries, a long-term critic of the Prime Minister, warned he would be ‘toast within days’ – even if the Remain side narrowly won – because of the way he had conducted the campaign.
Fellow backbencher Andrew Bridgen said he believed a leadership challenge was ‘highly likely’ because Mr Cameron had ‘put himself front and centre of a fairly outrageous Remain campaign’.
And last night a third Tory MP – Sir William Cash – suggested he would be ready to sign a letter demanding a no-confidence vote in the Prime Minister unless Mr Cameron improved his behaviour in the next two weeks and stopped churning out propaganda.
The Daily Mail revealed last week that dozens of MPs were considering demanding a no-confidence vote by writing to the backbench 1922 Committee. But only now have rebels started to come forward publicly. A total of 50 MPs’ names are needed to trigger a no-confidence vote – which would force Mr Cameron’s resignation as Tory leader if he lost. One MP told the Mail he believed at least 20 letters had been sent already.
But senior Leave figures Chris Grayling, Liam Fox and Iain Duncan Smith pleaded with Conservatives to concentrate on the referendum, saying talk of leadership challenges was ‘not wise’.
A source close to Michael Gove, the pro-Brexit Justice Secretary, said: ‘People should concentrate on the fundamental issues at stake in this referendum. Whatever happens on June 23, the Prime Minister deserves support from Conservatives to serve a full term.’
Dozens of Conservative MPs are angry about the use of the civil service by both Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne to pump out anti-Brexit propaganda.
Sir William, chairman of the European scru- tiny committee, told the Mail: ‘It is completely unacceptable that these lurid scaremongering tales have been put out by the Prime Minister and George Osborne.
‘It’s up to them – if they get it right in the next two weeks, and stop this relentless propaganda, then they can stabilise the situation – but if they don’t, the fault will lie entirely with them.’
Mrs Dorries said she had already sent a let- ter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee to demand a contest.
She told ITV’s Peston on Sunday that she was particularly angry about the Prime Minister’s claim that it was unlikely that Turkey would become a member of the EU – even though Turkish entry is government policy. ‘My letter is already in,’ she said. ‘If the Remain campaign wins by a large majority, I’d say it would have to be 60-40, then David Cameron might just survive, but if Remain win by a narrow majority, or if Leave, as I certainly hope, will win, he’s toast within days. There are many issues about which David Cameron has told outright lies.’
Mr Bridgen – who has not yet sent his letter – warned anger in the Tory party was now so intense a challenge was ‘probably highly likely’ as he warned the alternative was a ‘zombie parliament’.
‘I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to pull all the sides together and have a working majority going forward,’ Mr Bridgen told BBC Radio Five’s Pienaar’s Politics.
Asked if a vote of no-confidence against Mr Cameron would happen, the MP said: ‘I think there’s at least 50 colleagues who are dissatisfied with the way that the Prime Minister has put himself front and centre of a fairly outrageous Remain campaign.’
No 10 said the Brexit attacks were an attempt to ‘distract’ from a survey of 600 economists showing 88 per cent believed withdrawal would be damaging for the economy.
‘He’s toast within days’