Theresa May’s Cabinet turns on her as Matt Hancock preps for No Deal, Jeremy Hunt aims for her job and Liam Fox supports second referendum
THERESA MAY’s Government plunged into utter disarray over Brexit just 48 hours before a crunch Cabinet meeting over Britain’s future.
Aides of Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed he would call on colleagues on Tuesday to dramatically accelerate No Deal planning given the deadlock over the PM’s Brexit deal.
The Sun can reveal he ‘activated’ the NHS’ own plans last week – amid spiralling fears key medicines could be caught up in chaos at the border.
One ally said: “He doesn’t want no deal but thinks it’s essential that we prepare for it as a possible outcome.”
It came as Justice Secretary David Gauke threatened to resign if the PM puts Britain on a course to leave the EU without a deal.
He said: “I couldn’t support a conscious decision to crash out at the end of March and I don’t think there are many who could.”
He separately said he’d love a “crack” at being the next Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, allies of International Aid Secretary Penny Mordaunt revealed she would back the idea of a ‘managed’ No Deal at a key speech today.
And Trade Secretary Liam Fox became the first Brexit-backing Cabinet Minister to say it may be an idea to allow the Commons an ‘indicative vote’ on alternative Brexit plans such as Norway Plus or a second referendum.
He argued this would show there was no majority in the House for these- and it would be better to back the PM’s deal.
Previously only pro-EU Ministers such as Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark had backed the idea of ‘indicative votes’.
One Cabinet Minister told The Sun: “It’s chaos. We’re roughly 100 days away and there is no clear idea really of how we’re going to solve this.”
“What we really need to hear is what the Prime Minister wants to do.
“We just can’t have another Cabinet where we all spend three hours running through our own beliefs.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson weighed in by saying in The Telegraph a second referendum would cause "instant, deep feelings of betrayal" among the public.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox told ministers that Mrs May must be removed after Brexit so others could renegotiate the deal, The Daily Telegraph claimed. But a spokesman for Cox denied this.
The Prime Minister will desperately attempt to placate furious MPs in the Commons today with a statement about last week’s shambolic EU Council – where she failed to get a legal guarantee from Brussels over the hated backstop. She will seek to kill off calls for a second Referendum – saying it would cause “irreparable damage” to the integrity of British politics.
But privately, senior Tories admit that the odds of a so-called People’s Vote are tumbling because of the deadlock in the Commons.
The Government plans to put the PM’s deal back before the House in early January.
But Tory chiefs admit they have little chance of securing a majority without meaningful change on the backstop- where we would be tied to EU customs rules if we fail to strike a trade deal by 2020.
And insiders fear Commons Speaker John Bercow will side with any attempt to use Commons procedure to force a second Referendum on the Government.
Mr Fox yesterday insisted he believed there was also no clear majority in the House for a second referendum – or Britain seeking membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) in a Norway-style Brexit.
And speaking on the BBC Andrew Marr show he said he was in favour of the House voting on other options – to show they had less clear support than the PM’s deal.
He said: “I wouldn’t have a huge problem with Parliament as a whole having a say on what the options were, because it wasn’t the government that was given an instruction by the referendum it was parliament.
“Parliament said in the referendum we can’t make a decision, we’re going to subcontract our sovereignty to the people and they gave us an instruction. It’s time Parliament carried that out.”
He added that if Remain narrowly won a second Referendum he would have no hesitation in demanding “best of three”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn yesterday once more refused to say whether his party would seek to cash in on the chaos by moving a vote of No Confidence in the Government.
Speaking as he arrived at a private event on poverty, he said: “You’ll hear the news when I announce it.”
But Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne confirmed it was almost certain to come in the New Year – because Labour wanted the PM to lose her Brexit vote first. He said: “We can’t move to the next stage until Parliament has decided whether not to back the Prime Minister’s deal.
“Because we want to make sure that parliament has its say on what is a catastrophically bad deal for this country.”
Labour veteran Dame Margaret Beckett said the idea of a so-called People’s Vote was being discussed not just in Westminster but in the corridors of power in Whitehall too.
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She said: “The case for the public being given the final say is becoming so overwhelming that people from all parties and of none now recognise that this is the best way forward for our country.
“A new public vote would be different from the referendum in 2016 because we now know more about what Brexit means.
“It is vital that leaders who care about the national interest begin preparations for a People’s Vote that can sort out the Brexit mess, give our politics the clarity it needs to move forward and our country the opportunity to move on from the bitter divisions of the past three years.”
Sources claimed the SNP would push to table a No Conference vote in Theresa May's Government to humiliate Labour. It may not approved by Parliamentary authorities because such votes are only supposed to come from the official opposition.
Options in front of the PM
PRIME MINISTER’S DEAL: Chances of success look slim. She needs the EU to agree to Britain’s early exit from the so-called backstop for the Irish border tying us to customs rules.
NO DEAL: Technically Britain is heading for a No Deal on March 29 the moment MPs vote down the PM’s deal. But the Commons will almost certainly find a way to block it.
MANAGED NO DEAL: UK leaves with No Deal after a small transition period in which we strike side deals in some key areas to avoid chaos. Idea is gaining traction among Brexiteers.
NORWAY: Super soft Brexit would see Britain stay in the customs union and single market. But we would have to agree to unlimited EU immigration and other Brussels diktats.
CANADA: Brexit-backing MPs are pushing the PM to reopen talks with the EU on a Canada-style trade deal. The EU insists it does not solve the Irish border problem.
SECOND REFERENDUM: A growing number of MPs on all sides favour going back to the people — but could shatter the public’s faith in democracy after the 2016 vote.
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