FORTY Tory rebels are plotting with arch-Remainers Philip Hammond and David Gauke in a bid to stop a No Deal Brexit, it’s been claimed.
The desperate former chancellor and ex-justice secretary have recruited an extra 19 senior Conservative MPs after writing a furious letter to Boris Johnson last week.
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Hammond said the PM’s plans to abolish the backstop “set the bar so high that there is no realistic probability of a deal being done”, The Sun revealed in a letter.
And now even more are said to be joining the cause, The Telegraph revealed today.
The size of the rebel group – known as the Gauke-ward Squad – could now heap pressure on Boris who has told Brussels Britain will be leaving the bloc “do or die” come October 31.
Last week, 21 senior Tories revealed they were fighting No Deal Brexit.
Former Cabinet ministers David Lidington, Greg Clark and Rory Stewart were among the group who wrote to Johnson explaining they were “alarmed” by the PM’s Brexit demands.
TORY REBELS
There are reportedly 10 more MPs set to back the group.
A source said: “It should not come as any surprise that Number 10 is trying to pick people off that group on the basis that the strategy is not to go to no-deal. There are lots of back channel conversations.”
Boris is said to have blasted Hammond for “gravely damaging” the national interest with his bids to frustrate Brexit.
It should not come as any surprise that Number 10 is trying to pick people off that group on the basis that the strategy is not to go to no-deal. There are lots of back channel conversations.
Tory source
In a letter seen by the Mail on Sunday, the PM said it was “plain as a pikestaff” that the EU “will simply not compromise as long as they believe there is the faintest possibility that Parliament can block Brexit on 31 October”.
Downing Street sources also accused Tory Remainers of “appalling dishonesty” for attempting to use the Brexit delay to “cancel the referendum”.
The comments come after Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay signed the “commencement order” that will trigger the end of the supremacy of EU law in the UK on October 31.
Hammond and Gauke’s plot to stop the will of the people comes as Boris head to to Paris and Berlin for talks with EU leaders, before a G7 summit where he’ll meet President Trump too.
The PM says he still wants to get a deal but he won’t re-start talks until Brussels agrees to drop the hated Northern Irish backstop.
Rebel Dominic Grieve refuses to reveal his plan to stop Brexit
REMAINER Tory Dominic Grieve has refused to spill his plans for trying to stop a No Deal Brexit – because he doesn’t want to give Boris Johnson the heads up.
The Tory MP said today that he would “not be drawn into the specifics” of his chats with other colleagues in Parliament.
Last week he and other Tories sparked uproar after it emerged he would meet with Mr Corbyn to talk about how to prevent a No Deal.
But he insisted he wouldn’t support him in a caretaker government as PM.
Mr Grieve told the BBC today: “I don’t see how he could lead a government of national unity in those circumstances,” he said.
“I think there are quite a number of people who might be suitable.”
And he added: “I spend a lot of time discussing these issues with colleagues and will continue to do so.
“I am not going to be drawn on the specifics of what we are talking about, because that is going to play into the PM’s hands.
“It’s not in our interests that that should happen.”
Mr Grieve also said that Boris had a tendancy to “infuriate people by his attitude” and was not confident he’d be able to get a new deal from Brussels.
Yesterday No10 lashed out at Remainer scare stories about a No Deal Brexit, saying they were deliberately leaked to discredit the Government.
And they claimed the reports – which included Project Fear stories about shortages of food in the event we leave without a deal – were old anyway.
100 MPs have demanded that Parliament be recalled to find a solution to the Brexit crisis.
Politicians aren’t due back in Westminster for another two weeks.
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