David Cameron refuses to say who he thinks should replace Theresa May as he says the Government needs to get warring MPs to ‘work together’ and achieve a Brexit deal ‘compromise’

• The ex-Prime Minister said there were four groups in ‘stuck’ House of Commons
•  He told ITV that two of the four groups would have to ‘combine their options’
• Came after MPs could not agree on any of eight Brexit options in late night votes

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Former prime minister David Cameron  today urged warring MPs to ‘compromise’ to get some sort of Brexit deal through the ‘stuck’ Parliament.

The ex-Tory leader, who quit after leaving the failed Remain campaign in the 2016 election said two of four main factions in the Commons – spanning all opinions on Brexit – would have to ‘compromise’.

But he declined to say who he would back to replace Theresa May when she stands down, telling ITV News: ‘It’s not for me to say.’

He said: ‘The basic problem is that Parliament is stuck.

‘There are four groups in Parliament; people who want the PM’s deal, people who want no deal, people who want a second referendum and people who want a softer Brexit.

‘We – the Government – has to try and find a way of getting at least two of those groups to work together, to combine their options, to compromise to find that partnership agreement and I hope that is what will happen.’

• May’s last-ditch talks with the DUP to persuade them to save… What sort of Brexit DO MPs want? Commons shows support for a…

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Theresa May laving Parliament last night after the DUP deal her hopes of a Brexit deal a massive blow by refusing to swing in behind it

The backbench plot to snatch control of Brexit hit a wall last night as none of the alternatives to Theresa May’s deal secured a majority – but MPs still showed Britain they favour a softer Brexit or a second referendum – and will never deliver No Deal.

Last night, in an unprecedented move, politicians seized control of the Commons timetable from Theresa May to hold so-called indicative votes.

The poll showed Parliament is close to agreeing on a soft Brexit with a plan for the UK remaining in a customs union with the EU defeated by 272 votes to 264, while a second referendum was rejected by 295 votes to 268.

MPs were handed green ballot papers on which they voted Yes or No to eight options, ranging from No Deal to cancelling Brexit altogether. However, the votes descended into shambles as MPs rejected each and every one of the proposals – although its architect Sir Oliver Letwin always warned there wouldn’t be a winner first time.

Ten Tories – including ministers Sir Alan Duncan, Mark Field and Stephen Hammond – supported an SNP plan to give MPs the chance to revoke Article 50 if a deal has not been agreed two days before Brexit. Some 60 Tory MPs backed the option of remaining in the single market. 

The results of Wednesday’s votes, in order of preference, were:

• Confirmatory public vote (second referendum) – defeated by 295 voted to 268, majority 27. 
• Customs union – defeated by 272 votes to 264, majority eight. 
• Labour’s alternative plan – defeated by 307 votes to 237, majority 70. 
• Revocation to avoid no-deal – defeated by 293 votes to 184, majority 109. 
• Common market 2.0: defeated by 283 votes to 188, majority 95. 
• No Deal: defeated by 400 votes to 160, majority 240. 
• Contingent preferential arrangements – defeated by 422 votes to 139, majority 283.
• Efta and EEA: defeated by 377 votes to 65, majority 312. 

Mrs May will today scramble to convince the DUP to perform a U-turn as her Brexit plan was hanging by a thread last night despite her dramatic offer to quit and Britain edged towards a general election.

The Prime Minister caved in to Brexiteers including Boris Johnson who demanded a promise to quit and a new leadership election in return for support for her EU divorce.

But it may all have been in vain for Mrs May after up to 25 ERG ‘Spartans’ refused to budge and the 10 DUP MPs also turned their backs on her.

Tory rebel Mark Francois said today: ‘I wouldn’t vote for it if they put a shotgun in my mouth. I am not voting for the deal on the basis of who is or is not the Prime Minister. I am not voting for the deal because I have read it. Nothing has changed – so I’m still happy to vote it down. The British people voted to leave the European Union – let’s just leave’.

Yesterday, in a highly-charged speech, Mrs May told Tory MPs she would quit ‘earlier than intended’ if Parliament backed her withdrawal agreement.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds in Westminster today, the day after the party effectively dashed Theresa May’s hopes of passing a deal

There were initial signs that her gamble might pay off when a string of Eurosceptic MPs, led by Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith, said they would now swing behind her.

But, in a bombshell announcement shortly before 9pm, the DUP’s said it would not support the agreement because it posed ‘an unacceptable risk to the integrity of the UK’.

The party’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds indicated it would vote against the plan, saying: ‘We don’t abstain when it comes to the Union.’

The DUP’s support is seen as critical to unlocking the backing of dozens of Eurosceptic MPs and Mrs May’s close friend Damian Green, a former minister, says the PM will not give up trying today.

If her deal fails then Parliament is likely to demand she asks the EU for a softer Brexit or draw up a second referendum – and the PM would then be expected to call a general election because it would tear up the Tory manifesto.

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