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Boris Johnson must fend off a wrecking ball from senior Tories led by Philip Hammond to deliver a No Deal Brexit – The Sun
BORIS Johnson must fend off a wrecking ball from senior colleagues to deliver a No Deal Brexit.
Drafts measures are being drawn up to throw political hand grenades at the PM to stop the UK leaving without an agreement in October.
Senior Tories led by ex-Chancellor Philip Hammond are working on a “scale of measures” to deploy over the next two months.
Plotting backbenchers see a re-worked plan to seize control of the Commons as a way to extend Britain’s departure date.
One source said: “We’re working on a range of scenarios. Nothing is 100 per cent bombproof and there are weaknesses in the options.
“But judging on the timing, whether it’s early September or towards the end of October there are different options.
“There are ongoing conversations with colleagues about when they will get on board.”
'END GAME'
One plan is to tweak a version of legislation passed back in April by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Oliver Letwin.
It could mean that if MPs don’t back a no-deal outcome in the run-up to the October 31st deadline, then the government should ask the EU for a further extension.
But Letwin yesterday said he was “not terribly optimistic” of reaching an agreed “end game” to replace leaving the EU without a deal in October.
But he said the “mechanism” for delay is the “easy bit”.
Mr Johnson has said he still wants to strike a deal with the EU, but the government and civil service are preparing for no deal.
Hammond said this week that a no-deal exit would be a “betrayal of the referendum”.
He said that any attempt to get round Parliament would lead to a “constitutional crisis”.
But the PM has said he will take the UK out of the EU in October “do or die” – even if there is no withdrawal deal passed.
Tory MP Guto Bebb suggested he would side with Jeremy Corbyn in a no confidence vote against BoJo.
One Minister last night said a “persuasion game” was still ongoing with some rebels who needed to be shown some “love and embracing”.
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