NO 10 AT WAR OVER ‘SUICIDAL ELECTION’

May could call poll early as Wednesday Boris is voters’ choice to replace PM Corbyn takes shock 5 point lead

DOWNING Street has been plunged into civil war over whether Theresa May should trigger a General Election this week, as the Brexit crisis threatens to overwhelm her Government.

The Prime Minister’s closest advisers are bitterly divided over whether to call a snap poll if Mrs May loses a last-chance Brexit vote this week and are also split over whether she should be in charge of the campaign.

It comes as a Mail on Sunday poll today gives Jeremy Corbyn a five-point lead over the Tories, enough to make Labour the largest party in the Commons and put Mr Corbyn on the threshold of Downing Street. The poll result prompted this newspaper’s pollster to say that calling

an election would be a ‘kamikaze’ move by Mrs May.

Ahead of another tumultuous week at Westminster:

Mrs May was preparing to make a final bid to win MPs’ approval for her deal through a Commons run-off against a Remainers’ plan to keep the UK in a customs union;

Her Cabinet was at war over the crisis, with threats of walkouts by Remain-leaning Ministers, led by Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, if Mrs May does not sign up to a customs union, and counter-threats to quit from pro-Brexit Ministers if she does;

The ‘pizza club’ of pro-Brexit Cabinet Ministers, led by Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, held an emergency conference call yesterday afternoon to co-ordinate their response to the crisis;

A letter backed by 170 MPs – and reportedly signed by ten Cabinet Ministers – put huge additional pressure on Mrs May not to extend the UK’s EU membership until the European Parliament elections on May 23;

Cabinet Minister Geoffrey Cox accused Tory MP Oliver Letwin of ‘conspiring’ with Brussels to keep the UK in a customs union;

Mrs May was accused of plotting to stymie Boris Johnson’s leadership ambitions by staying in Downing Street until October;

The main candidates to succeed Mrs May intensified their courtship of Tory MPs;

One of Mrs May’s allies accused Mr Johnson and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab of ‘blowing up’ the deal with the DUP by failing an ‘interview’ with the Ulster Unionists;

Tory MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan warned that the Government would fall if Mrs May negotiated to keep the UK in a customs union;

Brussels negotiators were locked in debate about whether to force the UK into a No-Deal Brexit or a long extension of EU membership if the Commons remains deadlocked;

Mr Corbyn’s strategists were plotting a General Election ‘decapitation strategy’ designed to take out Mr Johnson, Ms Rudd and Iain Duncan Smith if a poll is called.

Mrs May will this week mount a desperate, last-ditch attempt to win support for her vote as Parliament tries to coalesce around a Brexit option that can achieve a majority.

Remainer MPs led by Mr Letwin are set to seize control of the Commons timetabling again tomorrow and Wednesday for a fresh round of indicative votes.

They are expected to show that Parliament wants to stay tied to Brussels tariff rules for good.

It would set up a showdown on Thursday with Mrs May’s deal, which has been defeated three times already. It will be given one last chance to get over the line to avoid a major delay to Brexit.

Some No 10 advisers are pushing for the run-off to come as early as Tuesday, meaning an Election could conceivably be called as soon as Wednesday.

Last night EU sources said it would still be possible for the UK to leave on May 22 if Mrs May’s deal was passed this week.

But an emergency meeting of the EU 27 has been convened for April 8 in case the deal fails to get parliamentary approval.

The European Commission is open to an extension that would require the UK to take part in European elections in May but the decision would have to be taken by the EU Council of leaders.

There are fears France or Italy, both sick of Brexit wrangling, could veto the proposal, plunging the continent into a No-Deal scenario on April 12.

Mrs May is under pressure from Brexiteers in Government who have organised a new Leave Ministers WhatsApp group to co-ordinate their demand that Britain leaves on that date, even without a deal, and fight off a bid by Remainers to foist a customs union on the Government in a last-gasp effort to soften Brexit.

Last night No 10 and the Cabinet were split down the middle over what Mrs May should do if Mr Letwin succeeds in securing Commons support for UK membership of a customs union.

Ms Leadsom’s ‘pizza club’ – which she founded last year to discuss pro-Brexit strategy over takeaways in her Commons room – is understood to have agreed in their 5pm call to block efforts to join a customs union.

The Deltapoll survey for The Mail on Sunday puts Labour on 41 per cent, five points clear of the Conservatives on 36 per cent.

If this result were to be repeated at an Election, Labour would win 307 seats and the Conservatives would win 264.

Although Mr Corbyn would be 19 seats short of a majority, it would leave him in pole position to move into No10 if he could strike an agreement with the SNP.