SENIOR Tory rebels will face down Boris Johnson today over a no-deal Brexit, threatening to side with Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition leaders to stop Britain crashing out of the EU without an agreement.
Among ex-Cabinet ministers attending a meeting in Downing Street with the Prime Minister will be Philip Hammond, the former Chancellor, Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, and David Gauke, the former Justice Secretary.
The latter made clear he would be prepared to lose the party whip to defend what he regards as defending the “national interest”.
At the weekend, Mr Johnson threw down a challenge to some of his rebellious colleagues, saying: “The fundamental choice is this: are you going to side with Jeremy Corbyn and those who want to cancel the referendum? Are you going to side with those who want to scrub the democratic verdict of the people and plunge this country into chaos?
“Or are you going to side with those of us who want to get on, deliver on the mandate of the people and focus with absolute, laser-like precision on the domestic agenda? That’s the choice.”
Alok Sharma, the International Development Secretary, echoed the purge warning, urging his colleagues to "stand with the people" and deliver Brexit; underlining how the argument is being put by some that the Brexit issue is now one of “the people versus Parliament”.
It is thought as many as 20 Tory MPs could rebel in this week’s parliamentary showdown. But they run the risk of losing the whip and being discounted as party candidates in any snap election.
A Downing St source made clear: “All options for party management are under consideration.”
But Mr Hammond claimed removing the whip would be “staggeringly hypocritical” since “eight members of the current Cabinet have defied the party whip this year”.
He added: “I want to honour our 2017 manifesto, which promised a ‘smooth and orderly’ exit…not an undemocratic no-deal.”
Mr Gauke, talking to Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, made clear he would be willing to leave the Conservative Party to stop a no-deal outcome.
"Sometimes there is a point where... you have to judge between your own personal interests and the national interest. And the national interest has to come first.” However, he made clear he hoped it would not come to that and wiser heads would prevail.
Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister in charge of the Government’s no-deal contingency planning, confidently predicted a “majority of MPs” would back the PM.
“Because we know he is making progress with our European friends and allies in attempting to secure a deal and I don’t believe…people will want to erect a roadblock in his way. We all want to leave with a deal and we know as a result of the conversations that the PM has had with Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel that the Withdrawal Agreement, which they had said was a block of marble that could not be altered is now capable of being changed,” he added
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