Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched an astonishing attack on Theresa May – accusing her of betraying Brexit and breaking the trust voters have put in her.
The Tory MP – the de facto leader of the Brexiteers – said the Prime Minister had acted in an ‘untrusting way’ by flouting her previous red lines on leaving the EU.
He accused his party leader of trying to ‘gull’ Brexiteers into thinking she would deliver a clean break from Brussels but said she was pretending all along.
Mr Rees-Mogg – who has earned a reputation as one of Parliament’s most polite MP – also took a swipe at the PM for drawing a distinction between ‘passionate’ Brexiteers and her need to make hard headed political decisions.
He told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme today: ‘In the view of most Brexiteers, head and heart come together, I’m afraid the Prime minister doesn’t see that.
‘I think she’s a Remainer who has remained a Remainer.’
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is preparing to make a bombshell resignation speech in the Commons on Wednesday to lift the lid on his explosive resignation as Foreign Secretary.
Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured right) – the de facto leader of the Brexiteers – said the Prime Minister had acted in an ‘untrusting way’ by flouting her previous red lines on leaving the EU (file pic) while Boris Johnson (pictured left) is expected to make a bombshell resignation speech in the Commons this week
Appearing on the BBC ‘s Andrew Marr show today, repeatedly refused to say exactly when she decided on her controversial common rulebook Brexit proposal
He is expected to make it on Wednesday after PMQs in a challenge to Mrs May to stay in the Chamber and listen to his speech.
Mr Rees-Mogg is the leader of her European Research Group – the influential group of backbench Tory Eurosceptic MPs.
May tells Brexiteers back my Chequers plan or there will be no Brexit
PM (pictured with Donald Trump at Chequers on Friday) in stern Brexit warning her MPs
Theresa May has warned there may be ‘no Brexit at all’ because of attempts to wreck her controversial blueprint for Britain’s departure from the European Union.
She claims that rival Commons revolts by warring pro- and anti-Europe Tory MPs threaten to sabotage hopes of winning a post-Brexit deal for Britain.
And in a hard-hitting message to Brussels, the Prime Minister says she will not budge an inch on the proposed Brexit deal she agreed with Cabinet Ministers at her Chequers summit.
Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, Mrs May dramatically raises the stakes in her bid to win support for her proposal to make a success of leaving the EU.
Her fighting talk comes after US President Donald Trump enraged Downing Street last week by claiming that Mrs May should be more ‘brutal’ towards Brussels, and also follows reports that Conservative MPs are threatening to force her to quit.
In a bold attempt to kill off plots by both Brexit and Remainer MPs to make her tear up her new Brexit policy, the Prime Minister says: ‘My message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize.
‘If we don’t, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all.’
His outspoken attack comes at the end of hugely turbulent week for the PM, who is battling for her political survival.
Mrs May’s Brexit plans have been savaged by Donald Trump, sparked the shock resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis, and triggered a mutiny by her backbenchers.
And in a sign that the knives are out for the PM, who could face a leadership challenge over her Chequers plan, Mr Rees-Mogg issued an excoriating attack.
He told The Sunday Express the White Paper had not met any of the five tests Mrs May set out in her Mansion House speech on Brexit in March.
‘The common rule book is misnamed,’ he said.
‘It is not common, it is the European Union Rule book which we will have to follow or face penalties.’
He accused Mrs May of being so ‘oddly secretive’ in her ‘headlong retreat that even key Secretaries of State didn’t know’.
He added: ‘She always wanted a soft Brexit.
‘The Chequers U-turn, the failure of the Mansion House test and abandonment of ‘Brexit means Brexit’ has broken trust.
‘It would have been more straightforward to admit that no real Brexit was the intention all along rather than trying to gull Brexiteers. Perhaps we ought to have realised earlier on that a Remainer would stick with Remain.’
Mr Rees-Mogg said the PM had wasted time and taxpayers’ money in stringing them along before abandoning her Brexit red lines.
He added: ‘This is at best an untrusting way to behave and a more severe commentator would call it untrustworthy.’
Mrs My has launched her fightback against her critics though – telling Brexiteers that either they back her plan or there will be no Brexit.
Writing in the Maill on Sunday, she said: ‘My message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize. If we don’t, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all.’
And she vowed to get tough with Brussels, writing: ‘The negotiations with the EU are not going to be easy for Brussels – and I don’t intend them to be.
‘As President Trump has said, I’m a tough negotiator.
An Opinium poll for The Observer newspaper found that Tory support has plummeted to 36 per cent – some six points lower than it was in June.
‘As I made clear to him, I am not going to Brussels to compromise our national interest; I am going to fight for it and fight for our Brexit deal – because it is the right deal for Britain.’
But she suffered a fresh blow today when an opinion poll showed that Tory ratings are at their worst sine the election.
An Opinium poll for The Observer newspaper found that Tory support has plummeted to 36 per cent – some six points lower than it was in June.
Meanwhile, Labour have stayed on 40 per cent, while Ukip – the Brexit backing party most commentators had written off – have surged to 8 per cent.
Steve Baker, the ex Brexit minister who followed his boss Mr Davis and quit in fury at the proposals, said the poll shows that backing Chequers would effectively hand the keys to No10 to Mr Corbyn.
He said: ‘It looks like Chequers means Corbyn. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s still time to change course. Just.’