Theresa May's Conservative Party is undergoing bitter infighting over BrexitCredit: EPA
Half a dozen fellow senior Tory Europhiles joined the onslaught - taking the airwaves to demand a softer Brexit, while a Sun analysis found that the new makeup of the Commons gives soft Brexit a 44-vote majority.
Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Alistair Burt - three ex-ministers who left the Government last year - said the PM must now “compromise” on her Brexit plans.
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Chief Remainer Philip Hammond has mounted a huge push to water down the Government's Brexit blueprintCredit: PA:Press Association
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Sacked minister Anna Soubry also joined calls for the Government tone down its Brexit agendaCredit: Getty Images
And life-long Europhile Lord Heseltine went a step further - describing the commitment to a “hard” Brexit a “cancer gnawing at the heart” of the Conservative party.
A gloating George Osborne - the architect of the doomed “Project Fear” Remain campaign who was also sacked by the PM - declared: “There is a majority now in the House of Commons for hard Brexit.”
He claimed any deal with the DUP would require her to abandon her ‘no deal is better than a bad Brexit deal’ approach.
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But David Davis this morning sought to fight back against some of the speculation of softening the Brexit stance - and said he would continue to take Britain out of the Single Market.
"80% of the public voted for parties that reflect, and respect the decision last year," he told Sky News this morning. "The parties that wanted to reverse it got hammered.
"[The EU] said you cannot stay in the Single Market AND have control of your borders... There’s no sign of them changing their mind. We’ve been talking to them for ten months."
He added: "If anyone comes to me with ideas... I will take it on board. But it’s got to work. Its got to actually deliver on what the people asked for."
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David Davis said today Britain had to leave the single market to respect the referendum result
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Tory MP Dominic Raab is among the Brexiteers fighting off the RemainersCredit: Getty Images
The Sun can also reveal that some senior Tories are even pushing Mrs May to invite Labour to join an extraordinary cross-party Brexit war cabinet.
They see it as the only way of securing a good, lasting EU deal following her failed election gamble.
In a private note to the Prime Minister, one senior minister asked her to invite in the Opposition to help pass a huge series of Brexit laws and make sure the final Brexit deal gets through Parliament.
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There is an assumed 44 majority for a softer Brexit in the House of Commons
Labour’s Emily Thornberry jumped at the suggestion of joining the Government’s Brexit negotiating team.
The White Van Man-hating Shadow Foreign Secretary said: “In good faith of course we would go into it.”
But inviting Labour’s fierce Europhile figures into the negotiating team would infuriate backbench Tory Brexiteers - who would see it as a betrayal of their cause and deepen the party’s civil war.
Senior Vote Leave campaigner Dominic Raab reminded all Tory MPs that they were elected on a manifesto promise to deliver Mrs May’s blueprint so there should be no shirking.
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Labour's Emily Thornberry has jumped at the suggestion of joining the Government's Brexit negotiating teamCredit: Getty Images
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An estimated 297 MPs support Mrs May’s current Brexit plans - significantly lower than the 342 in favour of a softer version.
Coming out fighting for a softer Brexit, ex-minister Anna Soubry said: “The country did not vote for a hard Brexit. I’ve listened to a lot of people and the idea of a hard Brexit, the idea that no deal was better than a bad deal – people did not like that.”
Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan - an enemy of Mrs May - called for Mrs May to “build a consensus across the Commons”.
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Nicky Morgan - sacked by Mrs May last year - is also calling for a softer BrexitCredit: Rex Features
She said: “The decision to turn our back on the single market without exploring some form of alternative is raised too regularly to be ignored any more.”
And former foreign minister Alistair Burt urged the PM to adopt “a much more consensual approach” to Brexit.
But Mrs May has insisted Brexit negotiations will go ahead as planned. In a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel the pair agreed that talks will start as planned in the “next couple of weeks”.
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