Theresa May is facing a revolt from Boris Johnson and Michael Gove today over claims she tried to ‘bounce’ Cabinet into accepting EU rules after Brexit.
The Prime Minister has been rebuked for playing a ‘risky game’ by keeping her top team and the DUP in the dark over plans for a ‘soft Brexit’ deal with Brussels.
The agreement was humiliatingly torpedoed by the Northern Ireland party, which is propping Mrs May up in power, at the last minute on Monday amid fears it would tear the UK apart. The premier is now scrambling to get the painstakingly assembled proposals back on track ahead of a crunch EU summit next week.
But there is growing alarm on the Tory benches after David Davis confirmed some sectors of the UK economy could have to align with the EU after Brexit to resolve the Irish border issue.
Former leader Iain Duncan Smith – who has acted as a bridge between No 10 and Eurosceptic MPs until now – described the proposal as ‘intolerable’ and suggested it was time to walk away from the talks. ‘We are beginning to stare at the edge of what is a price that we simply cannot afford to pay,’ he said.
The Prime Minister had planned to return to Brussels today to try to complete a divorce deal with the EU, but this has been cancelled
![Boris Johnson is said to have confronted Mrs May over the compromises at Cabinet yesterday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/06/09/4709444900000578-5150625-image-m-15_1512551379423.jpg)
![He is pictured right at a NATO meeting in Brussels today](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/06/09/4709461400000578-5150625-image-a-16_1512551383463.jpg)
Boris Johnson is said to have confronted Mrs May over the compromises at Cabinet yesterday. He is pictured right at a NATO meeting in Brussels today
![Michael Gove, pictured left arriving for Cabinet with Jeremy Hunt yesterday, is said to be part of a revolt of Brexiteers who have a 'genuine fear' Mrs May wants to push through a soft option](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/06/09/4700C58900000578-5150625-image-m-18_1512551442044.jpg)
Michael Gove, pictured left arriving for Cabinet with Jeremy Hunt yesterday, is said to be part of a revolt of Brexiteers who have a ‘genuine fear’ Mrs May wants to push through a soft option
Mr Johnson tried to ease the tensions today by pointing out that the EU is being unreasonable in expecting the UK to make commitments without knowing what the ‘end state’ of trade arrangements will be.
Speaking to journalists as he arrived at a NATO meeting in Brussels today, Mr Johnson said the government ‘would find a solution’.
‘We are going to take back control of our borders and our cash contributions,’ he said. ‘But that solution can only be discovered in the context of discussions on the end state of the UK’s relations with the rest of the EU.’
But behind the scenes Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers have complained they were being kept in the dark about the extent of the compromises, both on the Irish border and the European Court of Justice.
One Cabinet source told the Telegraph: ‘It seems that either Northern Ireland is splitting from the rest of the UK or we are headed for high alignment with the EU, which certainly hasn’t been agreed by Cabinet. The Prime Minister is playing a risky game.’
Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson and Environment Secretary Mr Gove – who have restored their alliance after dramatically falling out during the Tory leadership campaign last year – are said to be leading a revolt of Brexiteers who have a ‘genuine fear’ that Mrs May is going to push through a ‘soft Brexit’.
The Foreign Secretary reportedly confronted the Prime Minister in a dramatic clash during Cabinet yesterday over her negotiating strategy.
A senior insider told The Sun: ‘Cabinet is in the dark about what the PM is doing, which is a very strange state of affairs to be in.’
Meanwhile the DUP, whose ten MPs prop up the Government, made it clear it would not accept the plans put forward by the Prime Minister on Monday to secure a breakthrough on a post-Brexit trade deal.
Talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker stalled on Monday after DUP leader Arlene Foster vetoed plans for a compromise on the status of the Irish border.
The Prime Minister had planned to return to Brussels today to try to complete a divorce deal with the EU.
But the trip has been cancelled after Mrs Foster said she would not accept plans to retain ‘regulatory alignment’ between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit.
The DUP is now taking a hard line, with Mrs Foster seemingly refusing to take phone calls from Mrs May and insisting that there will need to be ‘days’ of talks to sort out their differences. A DUP source told Sky News there were ‘no plans today’ for a call between the leaders.
Government sources insisted that the proposal on the Irish border was only a ‘backstop’ designed to open the door to trade talks this month.
![David Davis, pictured leaving his Whitehall office today, has confirmed some sectors of the UK economy could have to align with the EU after Brexit to resolve the Irish border issue](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/06/09/470973AE00000578-5150625-image-m-20_1512553222479.jpg)
David Davis, pictured leaving his Whitehall office today, has confirmed some sectors of the UK economy could have to align with the EU after Brexit to resolve the Irish border issue
A source said the proposal was limited to a few areas linked to the Good Friday Agreement, such as agriculture and energy.
But Mr Duncan Smith warned it could ‘box in’ the UK, making it a ‘supplicant’ to Brussels even after Brexit, and preventing the Government striking trade deals.
Mrs May began the day by telling the Cabinet she was ‘very close to getting agreement’ with the EU on a divorce deal, which she hopes could unlock the door to the start of trade talks. The PM told ministers there were ‘only a small number of issues outstanding’.
But a Cabinet source said the detail of the plans had barely been discussed by Mrs May at a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday.
‘There is not a lot of clarity here,’ the source said. ‘People want to be helpful to the PM in this, but they are befuddled by the approach she has taken. People want to see the detail and it is not forthcoming – that is a worry.’ Whitehall sources last night revealed that even Mr Davis did not learn that the phrase ‘regulatory alignment’ had been inserted into a proposed agreement with Brussels until Sunday.
One former minister last night warned the crisis could shorten Mrs May’s tenure in No 10, saying: ‘The PM is in a very weak position and she needs to wake up to the fact. She is making her position less and less tenable.’
One EU ambassador said: ‘We cannot go on like this, with no idea what the UK wants. She just has to have the conversation with her own cabinet, and if that upsets someone, or someone resigns, so be it.’
![Iain Duncan Smith – who has acted as a bridge between No 10 and Eurosceptic MPs until now – described the proposal as ‘intolerable’](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/05/23/47071E7400000578-5149619-image-a-20_1512515795680.jpg)
Iain Duncan Smith – who has acted as a bridge between No 10 and Eurosceptic MPs until now – described the proposal as ‘intolerable’
Tory Sir Bill Cash said any commitment to align all or part of the UK’s laws with the EU would be ‘massively difficult’ to accept.
Former Brexit minister David Jones said the move would make it difficult to strike free trade deals with countries outside the EU. He called the idea ‘dangerous’, adding: ‘If we are aligned with the EU on agriculture, for example, it would be impossible to conclude any meaningful free trade agreements with third countries.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg described the issue as an ‘indelible red line’ and voiced ‘gratitude’ to the DUP for vetoing the deal.
Walk away from Brexit talks unless the EU drops ‘intolerable’ demands, Iain Duncan Smith tells Theresa May
Iain Duncan Smith last night urged Theresa May to abandon Brexit talks unless the EU agrees to back away from its ‘intolerable’ demands.
In an ominous move, the former Conservative leader went public about his growing concerns with the direction of the negotiations on a potential divorce deal.
Mr Duncan Smith said accepting the EU’s demands would leave the UK a ‘supplicant’ nation after Brexit.
![Iain Duncan Smith last night urged Theresa May to abandon Brexit talks unless the EU agrees to back away from its ‘intolerable’ demands](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/05/23/4702344500000578-5149619-Iain_Duncan_Smith_last_night_urged_Theresa_May_to_abandon_Brexit-a-21_1512516196106.jpg)
Iain Duncan Smith last night urged Theresa May to abandon Brexit talks unless the EU agrees to back away from its ‘intolerable’ demands
He said he had told the PM: ‘We have reached the point where really these sets of demands are demands too far.’
He added that it was time to tell the EU: ‘We’re not prepared to go down this road any longer, this is not working, we will not box ourselves in.’
Mr Duncan Smith has acted as a bridge between No 10 and the Eurosceptic wing of the Tory Party, helping to persuade MPs to back Mrs May and avoid rocking the boat. His decision to speak out underlines the difficulty Mrs May now faces in persuading the Right of the party to back her approach to Brexit.
But last night Mr Duncan Smith said he could not accept plans to resolve the Irish border issue by signing up to a system of ‘regulatory alignment’ that could tie sectors of the whole UK economy to Brussels rules after Brexit.
He said it was ‘not just the DUP’ who were unhappy about a plan that would ‘give away our status before we even get to the trade arrangements’. He said agreeing to the demand from Dublin and Brussels would ‘box in’ the UK’s future options and limit our ability to negotiate future trade deals with other countries.
Mr Duncan Smith also voiced grave reservations about allowing any future role for the European Court of Justice, which Brussels is saying should continue to have jurisdiction over EU citizens’ rights in Britain.
He told the BBC: ‘We are beginning to stare at the edge of what is a price that we simply cannot afford to pay.’ Mr Duncan Smith said the EU ‘needs to budge’. He said the UK was ‘reaching the point fairly fast’ where it should just walk away and prepare to leave the EU without a trade deal.
He suggested no deal would be better than a ‘wholly intolerable one that leaves us boxed in and unable to make the kind of arrangements with the US, Australia, India and all these other countries that we want to make arrangements with’.
![Mr Duncan Smith's decision to speak out underlines the difficulty Mrs May now faces in persuading the Right of the party to back her approach to Brexit](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/12/06/01/4702ACBD00000578-5149619-Mr_Duncan_Smith_s_decision_to_speak_out_underlines_the_difficult-a-8_1512525177876.jpg)
Mr Duncan Smith’s decision to speak out underlines the difficulty Mrs May now faces in persuading the Right of the party to back her approach to Brexit
And he warned there was a danger that ‘we will end up being supplicants in this process rather than being equal partners.’
He added: ‘I think the PM is recognising that. It’s just becoming very clear that no matter what we say that we will help them with, there is another demand placed there and that stands in the way of trade.’
Signalling the tensions fracturing the Tory Party, former education secretary Nicky Morgan last night rounded on Mr Duncan Smith, saying: ‘This is madness. Walking away when the Brexiteers encounter difficulties they never bothered to anticipate is not in the national interest.’