One in three Tory MPs confirm they will be backing Brexit

SENIOR ministers from the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development were among more than 20 Tory MPs who yesterday joined the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.

David Cameron’s pleas for Britain to stay in Europe have already been rejected by 120 Tory MPs and 60 remain undecided, meaning half the parliamentary party could vote to leave the EU.

They include ministers in nearly every government department, including three in the Ministry of Defence, despite the decision by Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, to back Britain’s continued membership.

Downing Street had thought fewer than 80 Conservative MPs would back a Brexit, but many appear to have been emboldened by the decisions of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, to vote to leave.

Six Cabinet ministers and more than a dozen ministers outside the Cabinet are expected to vote to leave, along with more than 20 parliamentary aides.

Desmond Swayne, an international development minister, warned that “all sorts of terrors will be threatened” by those campaigning for Britain to stay in the EU. He said he hoped it would be “second time lucky” after previously voting for Britain to leave the Common Market in 1975.

He added that many of his constituents have told him that they felt duped by that referendum because they thought it was “just about free trade”.

Penny Mordaunt, a defence minister, said that the Prime Minister’s EU deal fell “far short” and that it was in Britain’s “long-term interests” to leave.

She said suggested that a vote to leave the EU could “trigger further negotiations”, opening the possibility of a second referendum.

James Duddridge, a foreign office minister, also came out in favour of leaving, as did Steve Barclay, the first Government whip to do so.