TORY MPs fear their party could face catastrophe if Theresa May calls a snap election in the wake of her Brexit deal failure.
Conservatives have become increasingly worried a General Election is the only way to break the current parliamentary deadlock.
PRU
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A poll published today shows Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party pushing ahead to 41 per cent — a whopping five points clear of the Tories’ 36 per cent rating.
If those numbers held true in a General Election, Labour would take 307 seats in the House of Commons while the Conservatives would only get 264.
Even though Corbyn wouldn’t have enough seats for a majority, he would be the front-runner to claim the keys to No 10 if he could forge an alliance with the SNP.
And when the Independent Group is factored into the poll choices, Labour still leads on 35 per cent as the Tories follow on 32 per cent — while the new group of ex-Labour and Conservative MPs take nine per cent.
The findings from the Mail On Sunday show a huge decrease in public support for Mrs May’s party.
Last month, a similar poll showed the Tories ahead by seven points.
But with no end in sight for the stalemate around Mrs May’s Brexit deal, it seems an appetite is growing for a change of leadership.
“WE WOULD BE ANNIHILATED”
One Cabinet member told The Telegraph: “There is no one in the Cabinet who thinks she should lead us into a General Election.”
And another Tory MP even said they might have to refuse to support a motion brought by the Prime Minister to hold an election.
They said: “We would be annihilated. How many of us would vote for that?”
If the Democratic Unionist Party continues its opposition to May’s deal, then Parliament may force the Prime Minister into taking a softer stance on Brexit, if MPs can agree a specific rival plan.
This would mean Mrs May would have to give up on a Tory manifesto pledge to leave the customs union — which in turn could lead to an election being called as soon as Monday.
Separately, the Mail on Sunday poll found Boris Johnson was the firm favourite to become the new Tory leader, commanding more than twice the support than his nearest rival, Sajid Javid.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove was the third favourite, followed by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in fourth, ex-Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab in fifth and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss in sixth.
The news comes after Theresa May hinted she was on the verge of calling a General Election yesterday to solve the ongoing Brexit stalemate.
Speaking directly after her deal was rejected for a third time, she said: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.”
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