PM is warned of Cabinet ‘bloodbath’ over plan to break Brexit deadlock with Chequers lock-in
THERESA May has been warned she risks a Cabinet bloodbath over plans to break the Brexit deadlock with a Chequers lock-in.
The PM has summoned warring ministers to her country retreat this week to thrash out their final list of demands from the EU.
She will tell them bluntly: “Nobody leaves until we are all agreed.”
It is her final roll of the dice after two years of squabbling over what sort of deal they want from Brussels.
But MPs have dubbed Friday’s gathering the “body bag summit” because there will only be one way to escape the 16th-century manor house.
One said: “They’ve all got to decide whether to back the PM or resign. A couple of ministers could be coming out in black bags.”
Downing Street has said Mrs May is close to a formula that will please all factions in her team without betraying the referendum result.
Brexiteers feared she plans to railroad through a softer exit plan after she took the decision out of a feuding 11-strong core team and invited the whole Cabinet.
But the plan will insist on an end to open borders while offering easier entry to EU citizens with jobs to go to.
A source said: “The plan must and will respect the will of the British people.
They voted to take back control and that must be the final Brexit outcome.
“Of course, we want to remain and open and welcoming country for people to come and work here.
"But the PM is clear that free movement must end and there will be no compromise on that.”
Chequers, a ten-bedroom mansion set in 1,000 acres of remote Buckinghamshire countryside is the ideal setting for a murder mystery weekend.
The Cabinet has a Remain majority of 15-10 and Mrs May will still have her work cut out to please them all.
It could lead to some loaded exchanges in the dining room between leading Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove against pro-EU Chancellor Philip Hammond.
But three former Remainers – Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Health supremo Jeremy Hunt and Defence chief Gavin Williamson – are convinced the government must deliver a clean Brexit and could tilt the balance.
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One member said: “We’re all in the dark because we don’t yet know what the Prime Minister wants us to accept.
"It’s impossible to say if it’s a resigning matter until we see it.”
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has urged the Cabinet to cheer up as a report by Economists for Free Trade suggested Brexit will deliver £65billion a year to spend on pet projects by the end of the next decade.
He said: “The gloom-laden, almost crepuscular Treasury and its friends need not fret over Brexit or its desire to raise taxes.
“It’s quite clear that the boost to the economy from a clean Brexit will enable the virtuous circle of higher spending on priority areas, such as the NHS, while enabling the Chancellor to cut taxes rather than raise them.”