Threat to oust Grieve over anti-May plot

PLOTTERS trying to wrest control of brexit from no 10 will meet today in Tory MP Dominic Grieve’s Commons office. The former Attorney General wants to suspend the Article 50 process which enables britain’s withdrawal from the EU on March 29.

Intriguingly, Grieve — who is calling for a new so- called ‘People’s Vote’ — is being advised by senior Commons clerk Colin Lee, according to the sunday papers. but the move to thwart brexit may be the final straw for Tory activists in Grieve’s true blue and brexit-backing beaconsfield Conservative Association.

senior activists tell me they will press Grieve on whether he intends to stand down at the next General election because they are tired of his scheming against Theresa May.

He has not helped himself by announcing he is no longer bothering to reply to constituents about May’s brexit deal.

‘The volume of correspondence makes individual replies difficult,’ he says. ‘I’m writing to set out in one document my reasons for concluding that the agreement that the PM has negotiated can’t receive my support.’

Around 40 per cent of Grieve’s party members — in a constituency that voted Leave — have failed to renew their membership, and donations have slumped.

My spy in the association tells me: ‘It’s hard to see how Grieve can run again as he’s lost the confidence of most of us. If he wants to carry on, we will take steps to deselect him. He doesn’t represent the views of his members or his constituency.’

Will Grieve treat his local Tories with as much disdain as he seems to be treating the 17.4 million who made their feelings all too plain when we did actually have a People’s Vote — three years ago?