Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said it would be "shameful" for the UK Government to request an extension to the Article 50 process to delay Brexit beyond March 29.
"It would be shameful at this late stage to change that totemic date - March 29, the one fact to which the public has been able to cling with absolute certainty in this sea of political confusion," he said.
"All this vacuous talk of extending Article 50 is dishonest but it's also weakening our negotiating position once again."
Speaking at JCB headquarters in Staffordshire, Mr Johnson said it would be "absolutely preposterous" if a delay were to force the UK to spend money on elections to the European Parliament this spring, adding: "The public would have the strong and altogether justified impression of an elite conspiracy to thwart Brexit."
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He said that calls to rule out a no-deal Brexit were "irrelevant" because it was "overwhelmingly likely that we will get a deal, we just won't get this deal".
He said the UK should remove the Irish backstop from Theresa May's plan but retain the proposed transition period to December 2020, using the period to negotiate a new free trade deal.
The UK should withhold half of its £39 billion financial settlement until the deal is completed, in order to "put a tiger in the tank" of the EU's willingness to make concessions.
Mr Johnson said he was confident that the EU27 would become more "flexible" in negotiations as the deadline for Brexit got nearer, as history showed that it was "only in the last few days and weeks of a negotiation that the big concessions are made".
Theresa May will be meeting with "a large number" of Cabinet ministers in Downing Street on Friday, a No 10 spokeswoman said.
The meetings will be both with individual ministers and in groups throughout the day, the spokeswoman added, but there will not be a "Cabinet gathering as such".
She declined to give a list of names but said that more than half of Cabinet ministers would be attending.
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The spokeswoman added: "I'm sure they will discuss a wide range of issues but you can expect Brexit to be a dominant focus."
She said that the Prime Minister had held "constructive" telephone conversations with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch premier Mark Rutte on Thursday.
Mr Johnson added: "I am not a nationalist, if by that you mean I'm a xenophobe, or someone who deprecates other countries and cultures.
"Absolutely not, far from it.
"But I do believe that the idea of belonging to a nation or a group can be immensely powerful and positive."
Mr Johnson said that Theresa May should go back to Brussels and tell EU negotiators that the UK would not accept the backstop arrangement, which is designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
He insisted there was no danger of a hard border as neither London nor Dublin wanted to erect one.
Answering questions following his speech, Mr Johnson said the "unprecedented" 230-vote defeat of the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons had given Mrs May a "mandate".
"She can go back to Brussels, and she should go back to Brussels and say that the British House of Commons doesn't accept the democratic consequences of the arrangement you have imposed in the form of the backstop," he said.
"It's got to come out."
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