Theresa May to meet backbench Tory MPs known as ‘new b******s’ after pressing for ‘soft Brexit’ in attempt to present united front on EU exit
Prime Minister is talking to those in her party who are opposed to a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ over potential negative economic consequences
THERESA May is meeting a group of backbench Tory MPs known as the “new b******s” as the Government moves to present a united front on EU withdrawal.
The Prime Minister is talking to those in her party who are opposed to a so-called ‘hard Brexit’, fearing there will be negative economic consequences for the UK.
Some of the MPs will be pressing Mrs May to publish a white paper setting out a more detailed policy stance ahead of triggering Article 50 and formally launching "divorce talks" with Brussels.
Former education secretary Nicky Morgan will not be among those received in Number 10, after engaging in a public spat with the PM after criticising Mrs May's decision to wear £995 designer leather trousers for a photo-shoot.
Among those expected at the meeting are former ministers Anna Soubry and Bob Neill and a number of other MPs keen to keep the closest possible links with the EU after withdrawal.
The soft Brexit group has been labelled the ‘new b******s’ in reference to members of John Major’s Cabinet who made life difficult for the former PM over the EU in the 1990s.
The current rebels have been encouraged by talk from senior ministers like Chancellor Philip Hammond in recent days, suggesting a longer transitional relationship may need to be negotiated to ease the impact of withdrawal.
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The meeting comes as a Lords report calls for an immediate guarantee to protect the European Union citizenship rights of all EU nationals in the UK at the time of Brexit.
They should not have to wait until the end of negotiations on Britain's departure for a firm message on their future, the Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee warned.
Britain is expected to seek to introduce controls on free movement rules, but details of the system have yet to be outlined.
MP in 'trousergate' row pulls out of Have I Got News For You
NICKY Morgan, the former cabinet minister at the centre of a spat over the Prime Minister's £1,000 leather trousers, has pulled out of filming for an episode of Have I Got News For You.
She will no longer appear on the satirical panel show on Friday due to "unforeseen circumstances", an agent for the programme's production company said.
The Tory MP for Loughborough, who Theresa May sacked as education secretary when she took over Downing Street, has been embroiled in the so-called "trousergate" row since she criticised the PM's decision to wear the £995 trousers during a photo shoot for a newspaper.
Her expression of doubt over the PM's decision to wear the Amanda Wakeley-designed "bitter chocolate" trousers forced Mrs May to deny she was out of touch and prompted a top aide to bar her from a No 10 meeting on Brexit.
Tory MPs backing the PM have pointed to the fact that Ms Morgan has a designer Mulberry handbag which retails for some £950, but sources close to the 44-year-old are reported to have said it is more than a decade old and was a gift.
A spokeswoman for programme makers Hat Trick Productions said Mrs Morgan had been booked to appear on the show, the last in the current series, since September alongside host Gary Lineker and comedian Jon Richardson.
