Brexiteers threaten to boo and ‘slow handclap’ Theresa May at Tory conference in protest at her EU negotiations
Angry MPs could leave her humiliated as she addresses the party in Birmingham as they express unhappiness with her Chequers plan for a soft Brexit
BREXITEERS have threatened to boo and “slow handclap” Theresa May during her Tory conference speech in protest at her EU negotiation strategy.
Angry MPs could attempt to humiliate the Prime Minister as she addresses the party in Birmingham to try and express their unhappiness with her Chequers plan for a soft Brexit.
According to arch-Eurosceptic Conservative Andrew Bridgen said Mrs May’s standing was already “at an all-time low” with members over her White Paper policies.
Speaking to the after her call on Mr Johnson to apologise for controversial remarks about burkas, he said: “Her standing has now plummeted even further.
“It’s becoming increasingly obvious to Conservative supporters that we need a new PM to rescue Brexit, and rescue our country and our party.
“All right-minded colleagues should put in no-confidence letters now to force out Mrs May.
“If she somehow manages to cling on, then at the Conservative conference she faces the prospect of real humiliation when she meets the party faithful.”
Mr Bridgen added: “She could be the first sitting Tory Prime Minister I can remember who faces a slow-handclap during her speech or doesn’t get a standing ovation at the end of it.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she was even booed.”
It would be the second year in a row her flagship address to the party faithful was ruined, after last year’s was overshadowed by a crippling cough fit, a prankster handing her a P45 and her set falling apart.
The anger from Brexiteers has been ratcheted up in recent days after Philip Hammond sparked a Cabinet war over a “no deal” Brexit by saying it will cause “large fiscal consequences”.
It led to MP Jacob Rees-Mogg comparing him to a dog returning to its vomit, and there were calls for the PM to sack him as Chancellor.
And the former Brexit Secretary David Davis wrote in today’s Sun on Sunday that the timing of Mr Hammond’s comments was “either spectacularly incompetent or deliberate”.
He also urged his former Cabinet colleagues to ignore the “misery merchants” of the Treasury.
Adding: “It was an attempt to frighten the population into imagining the most terrible consequences of leaving the EU without a deal.
“Even more disgraceful, by doing so it will undermine the Government’s hand in striking a deal.”
Last night the former Brexit Minister David Jones called on the PM to sack Mr Hammond, telling The Mail on Sunday it would be “proof of her good faith in dealing with the party”.