Jacob Rees-Mogg has insisted the Conservative Party would collapse if they do not deliver Brexit by the end of October this year when the UK is scheduled to officially leave the bloc. Mr Rees-Mogg, who is backing former foreign secretary Boris Johnson to become the next Conservative leader and Prime Minister issued the warning on LBC. A caller, known as Gavin, asked if the Conservative Party would be “finished” if Jeremy Hunt became Prime Minister.

Mr Rees-Mogg replied: “No I don’t, I think there is a realistic prospect for the Conservative Party as long as we leave on October 31, I think that is the key.

“I think Mr Hunt is a formidably able man, he is a highly intelligent man and was a very good Secretary of State for Health.

“But, if the Tories don’t leave, or don’t get us out on October 31, then there will be no Tory party left to lead, that’s the issue we are facing.”

He added: “Boris put it very well, he said ‘kick the can and you kick the bucket’. I think that’s right.

If the Tories don’t leave, or don’t get us out on October 31, then there will be no Tory party left to lead

Jacob Rees-Mogg

“You see that 67 percent of our voters, according to Lord Ashcroft’s poll went to the Brexit Party at the European elections.

“We have got to get those voters back, and the only way to do that is by leaving.

“Could Jeremy Hunt do that? I think he could. I think Boris is more likely to do that, which is why I am backing him.”

Mr Johnson used his weekly column in the Daily Telegraph to reaffirm his commitment to deliver Brexit by the end of October.

He wrote: “We must leave the EU on October 31 come what may. It will honour the referendum result, it will focus the minds of EU negotiators.

“We are just over four months away from the date on which, by law, we must leave the EU, and this time we are not going to bottle it. We are not going to fail.

“This time we are not going to shrink in fear from the exit, as we have on the last two occasions.”

Mr Hunt claimed on Monday morning that a Mr Johnson government would rapidly collapse, paving the way for Labour to take power.

He told GMB: “He is going to come to power on a very fragile coalition of people like Matt Hancock who wants no deal taken off the table, Mark Francois who wants no deal.

“Sometimes in politics, you can fudge and get away with it but in the case of Brexit you are going to have to make decisions immediately, and that very fragile coalition will collapse immediately when you have to make those decisions.

“If that happens we won’t have another leadership contest, we will have Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 and there won’t be any Brexit at all.”

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