Nick Boles quit the Tory Party last night and immediately took to Twitter to post a scathing attack on Mrs May’s Director of Communications, Robbie Gibb, that claimed Mr Gibb was pushing a hard-Brexit. Mr Boles said: “I am no longer a member of the Conservative Party. So I can be blunt where previously I might have been discreet. “The PM’s head of communications Robbie Gibb is a hard Brexiter who wants to destroy the PM’s new search for a cross party compromise.” He added: “The media should be honest about the briefings they receive from that quarter. And the Prime Minister would do well to tell Mr Gibb to get back in his box – or go back to the BBC.”
Mrs May’s official spokesman, who is not Mr Gibb, said: “The PM is grateful for the excellent advice she receives from all of her aides and officials.”
Mr Boles was close to tears when he walked out of the Commons after his Brexit plan was scoffed at a second time.
He said before his tantrum: “I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and our political cohesion.
“I accept I have failed. I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise.
“I regret therefore to announce I can no longer sit for this party.”
His resignation comes after English Democrats leader Robin Tilbrook sensationally claimed the new Brexit date of April 12 should have been passed by the Commons and the House of Lords before it was approved.
Mr Tilbrook has launched a £10,000 High Court battle claiming the UK has already left the EU and in the judicial review application said that Mrs May did not have the power to extend the exit date past March 29.
This comes as the former appeal judge Sir Richard Aikens has said the way in which the Article 50 extension was organised is “highly unsatisfactory” and “arguably illegal”.
Meanwhile, the 1922 Committee is plotting to oust Mrs May after she handed Brexit negotiations to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has been courting a second referendum or People’s Vote on her deal.
The deal is considered to be controversial in keeping the UK bound to the EU’s customs union and single market, and was voted down in three embarrassing meaningful votes.
