Parliament will shut down any attempt at no deal, says Gauke

A SENIOR Cabinet minister today warned that “a clear majority” of MPs against a no-deal Brexit will tie Boris Johnson in knots if he tries to crash out of the European Union.

Justice Secretary David Gauke allied with Chancellor Philip Hammond by vowing to vote against any attempt to leave the EU without a deal.

He warned there would be “parliamentary mechanisms” by which backbenchers and opposition parties could hijack the Commons agenda to impose the will of Parliament on the new PM.

“There is a clear majority in the House of Commons that doesn’t want to leave the EU without a deal,” said the Justice Secretary.

Mr Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU by October 31 “do or die” unless EU leaders offer him an improved withdrawal agreement. Mr Gauke refused to echo Mr Hammond’s hint that he might rebel on a confidence motion, stressing that he would not vote against a Tory government if it was heading towards a no-deal Brexit.

But he told Radio 4’s Today that Tories would be committing electoral suicide if they tied themselves to no deal: “If we were to narrow our support to purely being those in favour of a no-deal Brexit, I think we would be significantly out of touch with a lot of people who have traditionally voted Conservative.”

Employment minister Alok Sharma, a Johnson ally, called for unity from ministers returning to the backbenches in the major reshuffle that will start tomorrow night. He told Newsnight: “What we will do if we have disunity in the party is risk a Corbyn government.”

Arch-Brexiteer Nigel Evans said Mr Johnson would arrive at No 10 “with at least half a dozen knives already in his back” from outgoing ministers.