Over dozen ministers plan to quit the moment Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister next week
MORE than a dozen ministers are preparing to quit the moment Boris Johnson becomes PM next week — following a stunning Brexit rebellion on Wednesday.
Senior Tories joined Labour and Lib Dem MPs to make it impossible for the PM to suspend or “prorogue” Parliament this autumn to force through No Deal.
They won by 315 votes to 274, with Digital Minister Margot James resigning to join 17 Tory rebels who went against the Government’s three-line whip.
Ms James said: “It was time for me to make a stand.”
The Sun can reveal other big hitters are preparing to walk out on Tuesday once Mr Johnson’s inevitable victory is confirmed.
Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to go, along with Justice Secretary David Gauke and Business Secretary Greg Clark.
All three abstained in Wednesday’s vote, with Mr Hammond texting colleagues to mutiny too.
Several junior ministers also rebelled, including Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan — Boris’s former deputy — and Education minister Anne Milton.
She is believed to have told friends she will resign on principle next week.
Sir Alan, who went against his party for the first time in 27 years, later laid his cards on the table by revealing he won’t be speaking again from the Despatch Box.
Others expected to quit are Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley, climate change minister Claire Perry and Immigration minister Caroline Nokes.
Meanwhile Mr Johnson’s rival Jeremy Hunt admitted he missed the vote due to a gaffe. He wrongly thought he had been “paired” with a Labour MP who also couldn’t vote.
Wednesday’s result leaves Mr Johnson facing chaos when he enters No10. His working majority of four is dwarfed by the size of the Tory mutiny.
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Former Tory MP Anna Soubry, who leads Change UK, said: “There is a large group of Conservative MPs prepared to stand up to the excesses and absolute horrors of a Boris Johnson premiership.”
But Mr Johnson’s key aide Conor Burns told Remainers to “back off” and let the future PM deliver the Brexit promised to Brits.
He said: “If this House says to the British people ‘We are overturning the decision you freely took in 2016’, we would be entering very dangerous territory.”
The Sun says
TORY Remainers think voters are mugs.
But the public knows their defeat of the Government, stopping our next PM suspending Parliament in October, is not some noble defence of democracy.
It is simply to make it harder to honour the referendum result by leaving the EU with No Deal. But the crunch is coming for these wreckers.
Theresa May’s deal is dead, rejected three times. If the EU still refuses to rewrite it, No Deal it must be — as both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt accept.
The choice will be that or No Brexit.
And the Cabinet Remainer duds and no-mark ministers, all ready to quit instantly if Boris becomes PM, are idiots if they think that No Brexit ends happily for them, their party or Britain.
The Tories must be pro-Brexit, in whatever form necessary. There is no choice. Helpfully, the EU’s new federalist leader is already making it more toxic to Brits by the minute.
So Tory Remainers must wake up to this stark choice:
It’s Brexit, with No Deal if need be, or No Brexit, no Tories . . . and Marxism.
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