2 Jul 2018

Conservatives’ civil war over Brexit?

Political Editor

“Pipe down” and “Put a sock in it” – the playground insults from senior Tories were flying on Twitter today in response to arch-Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg’s warning that the Prime Minister must deliver the Brexit she promised or risk the collapse of her government. It feels as though an out-and-out civil war is in full swing within the party as battle lines are drawn in the run-up to Friday’s crucial meeting at Chequers, where Theresa May will thrash out the government’s Brexit policy with her cabinet. Two Conservative MPs, leading Brexiteer John Redwood, and Simon Hoare, who earlier today tweeted that Jacob Rees-Mogg’s warning to the Prime Minister was “blackmail” and “hectoring nonsense”, give their views.