Brexit latest: Theresa May’s snap election threat is nothing more than a bid to scare Tories to back her Brexit deal, Boris blasts
The ex-Foreign Secretary said anyone planning another vote later this year needed to be sent off to Venezuela or Zimbabwe where they would do less damage
THERESA May's top team are using the threat of another election to scare Tory MPs into voting for the Brexit deal, Boris Johnson has blasted.
The ex-Foreign Secretary said anyone planning another vote later this year needed to be sent off to Venezuela or Zimbabwe where they would do less damage.
Yesterday reports swirled around Westminster that officials were considering another snap vote in June - after Mrs May seals off a Brexit deal.
But this morning a No 10 spokesperson insisted that reports of an election in June were "categorically untrue".
Today Mr Johnson said any plans for an election were "lunacy" and the Tories would struggle to scramble together a manifesto.
He wrote in the Telegraph: "Perhaps there is no plan for an election, perhaps it is just a scare tactic designed to get MPs to vote for the PM's appalling deal.
"But if someone in Tory HQ genuinely thinks it would be a good idea they should be despatched on secondment to Venezuela or Zimbabwe or somewhere they can do less damage."
Labour MP David Lammy agreed with his sentiment.
He said: This story is designed to scare the s**t out of MP colleagues in Leave seats in the hope they will vote for May's deal.
"Let’s hope they can see through it."
Perhaps this is just a scare tactic
Boris Johnson
In leaked WhatsApp messages Tory MPs were spooked by the reports of another vote, which were later slapped down by the party chairman, Brandon Lewis.
Conor Burns said in the messages revealed "This sort of thing is very unsettling for colleagues".
And grandee Nicholas Soames added: "Frankly it's amateur night - what on earth are they playing at?"
Mr Lewis said that the Tories were "focused on just one set of elections, May 2nd."
BoJo steams ahead in poll of who should be next Tory leader
BORIS Johnson is miles ahead of his Tory rivals for who should be the next to take over as leader of the party after Theresa May.
The ex-Foreign Secretary is a huge 14 points ahead of the number 2 choice, Dominic Raab.
A quarter of those Tory members polled said that the blonde-mopped Brexiteer should take the reigns next.
Michael Gove is up from three per cent of the poll results to nine per cent - perhaps down to his barnstorming speech attacking Jeremy Corbyn in last month's crunch no confidence debate.
Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid are just a few points behind.
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Sajid Javid said yesterday the public "would never forgive us" for holding yet another election at the current time.
The news came as a new poll showed a huge lead for the Tories of seven per cent.
Before she decided to call 2017's disastrous snap poll, the Conservatives were also sailing ahead.
How Valentine's Day could bring a Brexit massacre for May
AFTER MPs voted last month to send Theresa May back to Brussels to rip out the hated backstop, the Brexit deal remains on pause for now.
She will hold more talks with her backbenchers this week and will head to Northern Ireland tomorrow for fresh discussions with political groups about the thorny issue of the Irish border.
Once she’s got a plan she thinks MPs can back, she is set to go back to Brussels to persuade them to get behind it too.
MPs’ recess has been cancelled to deal with Brexit and get us ready to leave on March 29.
The PM has to get MPs to pass her Brexit deal before that time for it to become law.
The next crunch votes are now set to take place on Valentines Day’ - 14 February - but we don’t yet have any idea what will be voted on.
And MPs can amend it again and put forward their own changes, like they could last time.
There could be bids to try and delay Brexit again like Yvette Cooper’s amendment, or even a second referendum.
Meanwhile, some MPs are considering whether to desert their party whips and vote against their colleagues in the upcoming votes if their party doesn’t get behind their wishes for a second referendum, or to block No Deal.
One Labour MP was reported to be mulling resigning unless Jeremy Corbyn came out in favour of a so-called People’s Vote.
And other MPs like Tory Sarah Wollaston have said they would resign their whip if the Government abandoned hope of a deal and went to leave the EU with nothing at all.
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