Are Cabinet Brexiteers about to make their move? Leadsom, Mordaunt and Grayling to meet the PM in No 10 as she CANCELS last Cabinet before EU summit

• Theresa May will meet a group of her Brexiteer ministers in No 10 later today 
• None have confirmed the agenda but talks come after weekly Cabinet cancelled
• May is scrambling to find a compromise with Labour ahead of an EU summit 
• She will fly to Paris and Berlin tomorrow to seal a deal on delaying Brexit  

Brexiteer ministers will meet Theresa May in Downing Street today at the start of a crucial week in Britain’s departure from the EU.

The talks – including Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling – emerged after Mrs May cancelled tomorrow’s weekly Cabinet.

Brexiteers Liam Fox, Michael Gove and Stephen Barclay have all been seen in No 10 this morning. 

Instead of meeting her top team tomorrow Mrs May will fly to Berlin and Paris as she scrambles to seal a delay to Brexit that avoids No Deal on Friday.

The ministers are all part of the so-called ‘Pizza Club’ that has coordinated the Brexiteer response inside Government as Mrs May has piled defeat on humiliation.

The meeting will fuel rumours senior Leave supporters inside Government will refuse to sign up to a permanent customs union to win Labour backing for the deal.

Ahead of the meeting, hardline Brexiteers launched a new bid to oust Mrs May as Tory MP Mark Francois publicly demanded a new vote on her leadership.  

Brexiteers Liam Fox and Michael Gove were seen leaving Downing Street today as the PM is under pressure to leave the EU as soon as possible

Brexiteer ministers including Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt (pictured last week on Whitehall) will meet Theresa May in Downing Street today at the start of a crucial week in Britain’s departure from the EU

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling will be in the meeting with Mrs May this afternoon 

Instead of meeting her top team tomorrow Mrs May (pictured arriving at No 10 today) will fly to Berlin and Paris as she scrambles to seal a delay to Brexit that avoids No Deal on Friday

A raft of ministers have threatened to quit the Government if Mrs May pivots to a soft Brexit to salvage her deal, which has been trounced three times by MPs.

But if Mrs May does not move to Labour she faces even more resignations from the Remain wing over the threat of No Deal.

Instead of Cabinet tomorrow, Mrs May will hold a showdown with Emmanuel Macron in Paris as the French President considers his own ‘de Gaulle moment’ with Brexit and could force Britain out of the EU.

Mr Macron is urging the EU to turn the screw on Britain by demanding ‘strict’ conditions if Article 50 is extended at a Brussels summit on Wednesday or demand No Deal.

The Prime Minister will also jet to Berlin tomorrow for emergency talks with Angela Merkel – and will be calling some of the other 27 EU leaders in the next 24 hours – as soft Brexit talks with Labour hang in the balance.

She will meet the German Chancellor before the French President ahead of the EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday where she will beg them to delay Brexit until June 30.

But with the EU pushing for a 12-month extension, the PM may ask the two leaders to push her request for a shorter delay as she faces mass ministerial resignations if Brexit is stopped until March 31, 2020.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay visited No 10 today as the Government scrambles to escape the impasse over leaving the EU

Mr Macron wants the UK to commit to not to disrupt the EU’s business after Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, said Britain should be ‘as difficult as possible’ in the event of a long extension and frustrate EU budget decisions.

If not he could choose to say ‘non’ to Mrs May, as General Charles de Gaulle of France did twice when he vetoed Britain’s bid to join the EEC in the 1960s.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is flying to Dublin for emergency talks with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar amid fears Britain could end up with No Deal.

To avert this Mrs May, who will cancel a crunch cabinet meeting because of her German visit, is risking civil war with her own party by pursuing a softer Brexit, with Boris Johnson calling it a ‘surrender’ and warning his party leader: ‘It cannot, must not and will not happen’.  

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