Andrew Bridgen warned Boris Johnson will “silence critics” if he secures a “convincing” victory in the Tory leadership race. The Tory Brexiteer MP also claimed the “only thing” that would prevent Britain from leaving the EU without a deal on October 31 would be if the future Prime Minister “asks for an extension”. Mr Bridgen told LBC: “I would hope that Boris would get a very convincing victory.

“That endorsement from the membership will I think go some way to silence his critics within the parliamentary party who haven’t supported him and been quite vocal in the last week.”

Host Iain Dale asked: “He’s been saying in the hustings that he gets the sense that the parliamentary party will come together.

“There isn’t a lot of evidence of that though is there when you look at what Philip Hammond, David Gauke, Greg Clarke did last week?”

The Tory MP for North West Leicestershire replied: “I think the Remain stalwart, hold-out Remain wing of the Conservative Party, the same people who have never reconciled themselves to the democratic will of the British people at the referendum.

“Why would it surprise us that they wouldn’t recognise the democratic will of the members of Parliament?”

Mr Dale remarked: “If you had a majority of 30 or 40 it really wouldn’t matter, but you don’t. After the by-election this week you may well have a majority of two. If Dominic Grieve delivers on his threat to resign the whip if Boris Johnson does become leader, you’re down to one. It’s virtually impossible.”

Mr Bridgen pointed out: “We’re not actually we’re down to none aren’t we, because if he votes for the other side it’s two off, it’s zero.”

The presenter remarked “so it’s worse than that, so how on earth can you prevent Parliament from preventing no deal?”, before the Brexiteer MP explained: “Because under statue law we are currently leaving.

“The default position is after we trigger Article 50 if we don’t sign up to a deal we’re leaving without a deal on October 31.

“The only thing that can prevent us leaving on October 31 is if the Prime Minister asked for an extension. We cannot have an extension forced upon us by the European Union.”

The comments come as senior Irish politicians and diplomats have reportedly held peace talks with two of Mr Johnson’s Cabinet allies.

German and French figures, as well as the Dutch and Belgian governments, have also established contacts with Mr Johnson’s team and signalled an intention to do a deal.

The move follows the Tory leadership favourite’s insistence he is willing to take Britain out of the European Union on October 31 “do or die”.

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Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs, indicated that Dublin is prepared to compromise.

He said that the Withdrawal Agreement concluded with Theresa May, which includes the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, is “not up for negotiation”. But he made clear that his country wants to avoid a no-deal Brexit at all costs.

Mr Coveney told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “If the approach of the new British Prime Minister is that they’re going to tear up the Withdrawal Agreement, then I think we’re in trouble.

“We’re all in trouble, quite frankly, because it’s a little bit like saying: ‘Either give me what I want or I’m going to burn the house down for everybody’.”

He added: “The EU has made it very clear that we want to engage with a new British prime minister, we want to avoid a no-deal Brexit.”

Mr Coveney maintained the backstop can be avoided by negotiation, but that it needs to be part of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“The idea that we can consider moving away from something that took two- and-a-half years to negotiate given all of that complexity and compromise on both sides to try and accommodate British red lines, don’t forget, not EU redlines, we’re simply not going to move away from the Withdrawal Agreement.”

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