NO10 BRACED FOR CABINET WALKOUT
Ministers fear May could let in Corbyn if she caves into soft Brexit demands
‘It would destroy the party’ ‘She is going to have to pick a side’
THERESA May would ‘destroy’ the Tory party and put Jeremy Corbyn in No 10 if she gives in to demands to adopt a soft Brexit, senior ministers warned last night.
MPs are staging a vote tonight on whether to try to force the Prime Minister to shift to a customs union or Norway-style soft Brexit.
No10 is braced for a possible Cabinet walkout as early as tomorrow when ministers debate whether to accept Parliament’s demands.
More than 170 Tory MPs, including ten Cabinet ministers, have already signed a blunt, two-paragraph letter to Mrs May reminding her of the party’s manifesto commitment to take Britain out of both the customs union and the single market. The letter urges her to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on April 12 if she cannot get her own deal through Parliament in the coming days.
And last night, two Cabinet ministers told the Daily Mail that shifting to a soft Brexit could lead to a collapse of the Government and usher in a Labour regime led by Mr Corbyn.
One said: ‘If forced to choose I would favour a general election over a customs union, but it’s like a choice between being stabbed in the left hand and stabbed in the right. Either one could take us to a Corbyn government.
‘The Conservative Party cannot accept a customs union, and at least half the Cabinet won’t accept it. It would destroy the party and it would lead to an election anyway, which we would then lose.
‘The only route we can possibly survive is to go for No Deal. At least we would then enter an election in the right political place, having delivered Brexit.’
Another Cabinet minister said: ‘We cannot go for a customs union – there would be no government left. And if we go for an election then Corbyn will be likely to win and we would end up with a customs union anyway.’
Justice Secretary David Gauke infuriated Eurosceptic MPs yesterday when he declared that Mrs May would have to ‘look closely’ at adopting a customs union if Parliament votes for it.
Mr Gauke and fellow Remainers Greg Clark, Amber Rudd, Philip Hammond and David Lidington are urging Mrs May to push for a softer Brexit if it avoids No Deal.
Last night, members of the group were privately encouraging Remainer Tories to back the option in tonight’s vote.
But Downing Street slapped down Mr Gauke, saying Mrs May was committed to delivering a Brexit deal ‘ which does not include membership of the custom union’. However, a proRemain Cabinet source said Mrs May would have to accept the will of Parliament, adding: ‘Something is going to have to give this week – she is finally going to have to pick a side, and that is going to leave one half of the Cabinet very unhappy. But if the majority in Parliament comes out for a customs union then that will be very hard to resist.’
Ahead of another dramatic week: Government sources said Mrs May would try to bring her deal back to the Commons for a fourth time this week, despite hopes fading that the DUP will ever support it. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said: ‘We have had a lot of patience with our British friends over Brexit but patience runs out.’
Former Tory prime minister Sir John Major called for a ‘government of national unity’ to push through a soft Brexit or second referendum.
Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly warned that Mrs May could lead the party into a snap general election if the Brexit deadlock continues, despite opposition from Tory MPs and a poll putting Labour five points ahead.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mrs Rudd set up a new group of moderate Tories designed to block hard Brexiteers such as Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson succeeding Mrs May as PM.
Labour shifted decisively behind a second referendum, with Tom Watson saying it was ‘inconceivable’ the party would not back the idea and Emily Thornberry declaring: ‘In my heart I want to stay.’
Former Middle East minister Alistair Burt said the Brexit deadlock was putting the UK ‘in peril’, adding: ‘I’ve spent enough time in conflict areas over the last few years to know how fragile peace and security is.’
Whitehall sources said Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill had convinced Mrs May to drop the idea of leaving the EU without a deal after warning her it would lead to the break-up of the UK.
Parliament will hold a second round of ‘indicative votes’ tonight in a process led by Tory grandee Sir Oliver Letwin designed to identify a soft Brexit alternative to Mrs May’s deal.
A customs union option was narrowly defeated last week and last night there were indications that Mr Corbyn could order his MPs to back a super-soft ‘Common Market 2.0’ option, which would keep the UK in the single market and make it impossible to end free movement.
Privately, some allies of Mrs May believe Sir Oliver could do her a favour by crystallising the choice for Eurosceptic MPs into a risk that her deal might lead to a customs union against the certainty of being locked in one.