Former Brexit Secretary leads Tory rebellion to ditch Theresa May’s Chequers plan
David Davis wrote to Conservative MPs warning them to reject the PM's soft Brexit plan or risk being wiped out as a former minister compared Tory infighting to 'the closing scene of a Tarantino movie'
DAVID Davis warned the Conservatives were hurtling toward a dire Election defeat with Theresa May’s soft Brexit - as Cabinet Ministers, backbenchers and the DUP ratcheted up pressure on the PM in day of public bickering.
The ex-Brexit Secretary used a devastating letter to Tory MPs to warn them to ditch her Chequers plan “immediately” or be wiped out, as another ex-Minister said the party was “starting to resemble the closing scene of a Tarantino movie”.
Meanwhile two Cabinet ministers - Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss - signalled their disquiet with the PM’s plans, as DUP leader Arlene Foster threatened to pull the plug on talks with Brussels.
Party discipline collapsed as MPs returned to Westminster, just a week before Mrs May heads to Brussels for her next showdown with EU leaders.
In his most strident attack on Mrs May yet, Mr Davis repeated his plea for the UK to "chuck Chequers" and instead seek a looser free trade deal with Brussels like Canada - quickly branded a “delusion” by his successor Dominic Raab.
Aid Secretary Ms Mordaunt publicly refused to back the Chequers deal, as she repeatedly dodged questions over whether she backed the PM’s blueprint.
And although insisting she “fully supported” Mrs May, she said her backing was conditional, adding: “I would say is that we don't know where this is going to end up. We are at a critical moment now.”
Meanwhile on Monday evening Treasury Minister Ms Truss told a private Westminster dinner that the final outcome of talks with Brussels would look more like Canada’s relationship with the EU.
Tory backbencher Johnny Mercer lashed out at the public sniping, claiming: “we've got a pretty poor administration at the moment and we are facing some of the hardest challenges we've faced as a peace time country.”
And in a further headache for No10, their crucial Northern Irish allies publicly threatened to torpedo the Brexit negotiations and ruled out any deal with Brussels that could lead to an Irish Sea border.
The DUP chief Arlene Foster blew up a possible compromise that would have seen checks carried out only on goods travelling to Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
And in a fresh warning shot to Mrs May she said any attempt to fudge a solution with the EU could break up the UK amid agitating by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.
She was speaking after a meeting with Michel Barnier in Brussels at which she told the Frenchman the DUP will never accept his version of the insurance “backstop” border plan.
But former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said backstop was being part of a dirty deal with car giants to keep the UK tied to EU customs union rules.
He demanded the Government come clean over assurances given by Business Secretary Greg Clark to the likes of Nissan and Toyota a year ago.
And he said Ministers must have told the car companies that Britain would either remain in a customs union or tied to the EU rule book for goods.
He told The Sun: “The Government has to demonstrate no deal has been done." Last night Downing Street hit back at Mr Davis’s letter, saying: “A Canada-style deal for the entire United Kingdom is not on offer from the EU.
"What is on offer is a deal that would effectively divide UK in two, and that is not acceptable.”
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And Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab added that suggesting otherwise was a “delusion.”
The Lib Dems said: "David Davis's letter highlights the growing panic rippling through the Conservative party that Theresa May's Brexit is going to cause nothing but misery for the country and the Tory party.”
And Labour MP Catherine McKinnell said accused the Brexteers of “relentless pressuring of the Prime Minister into supporting an even worse deal.”
Steve Baker warned that 40 Tory MPs were now ready to vote against the any deal Mrs May brings back from Brussels if she does not ditch her Chequers plan.
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