Twelve angry ministers could quit Theresa May’s cabinet if she refuses to delay Brexit , it has been claimed.
Former attorney general Dominic Grieve claimed resignations on this scale could bring down the Government within the next few weeks.
But Brexiteer Commons leader Andrea Leadsom insisted Mrs May’s 45-vote defeat last night was “more of a hiccup than the disaster that is being reported.”
And she blamed the defeat on the Labour party “playing politics”, rather than the 71 members of her own party who abstained or voted against their Prime Minister’s plan.
And she suggested Mrs May could survive six ministers quitting her cabinet, saying: “Resignations from government do happen.”
Asked how many ministers could resign, Mr Grieve said: “I think we are talking about a dozen or even more. Not entirely in the Cabinet, some are junior ministers.”
On the number of Cabinet ministers who could resign, he said: “I’m always hesitant to speak on behalf of colleagues, but I think we are talking of up half a dozen.”
Asked whether this could bring down the Government, Mr Grieve said: “Yes it could, and this isn’t a desirable outcome.”
“We cannot get ourselves into a position where we are associated with rejecting the UK leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement,” he said. “It’s a catastrophic and foolish negotiating error and we cannot be associated with it.”
Mr Baker said ERG members objected to Mrs May “reinterpreting” last month’s vote to replace the Withdrawal Agreement’s backstop with alternative arrangements for keeping the Irish border open.