Boris Johnson backs Jacob Rees-Mogg after Brexiteer threatens to bring down Theresa May
The leading Brexiteer claimed Theresa May could end up like Victorian PM Robert Peel, who split the Tory party
BORIS Johnson tonight waded in to the Tory party's bitter civil war - backing Jacob Rees-Mogg after the arch-Brexiteer threatened to bring down the Prime Minister.
The Foreign Secretary's intervention came after a senior minister accused Mr Rees-Mogg of "insolence" - while other Tories warned he risked plunging the party into an "ego-fest" and demanded that he "shut up".
Mr Rees-Mogg, head of the influential European Research Group, has called on Theresa May to "stand firm" against attempts to keep us tied closely to the EU after Brexit.
He urged the PM to ignore pro-EU Cabinet ministers and scrap "idiotic" plans to form a new customs partnership with Brussels.
The backbench MP, tipped as a future Tory leader, claimed Mrs May could end up like Victorian Prime Minister Robert Peel, who split his party over free trade and ended up sacrificing his career.
His sparked a furious backlash from ministers who accused Mr Rees-Mogg of trying to destabilise the Government.
But tonight Boris signalled support for him - calling the senior Brexiteer "principled and dedicated".
The Foreign Secretary tweeted: "It's vital that all MPs are able to air their views on Brexit.
"Whatever your position, I hope we can all agree that @Jacob_Rees_Mogg is a principled and dedicated MP who wants the best for our country."
Earlier today Mr Johnson's deputy Alan Duncan tweeted: "Rees-Mogg’s insolence @Telegraph in lecturing & threatening PM is just too much. Risks debasing govt, party, country & himself.
"PM must be given maximum latitude & backing. The ideological right are a minority despite their noise & should pipe down."
Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt added: "Enough. Just tired of this endless threat and counter threat. Why don’t we want the best for the U.K. than for our own ideological cliques?"
Tory MP Simon Hoare, an aide to Education Secretary Damian Hinds, said: "The hectoring nonsense / blackmail has to stop, the reality of parliamentary arithmetic dawn and the calamity of a Corbyn Government woken up to. Tories are common sense pragmatists NOT dogmatic vestal virgins."
He later added: "It’s not an ego-fest and we all need to remember that."
Nicholas Soames, another pro-EU grandee, wrote on Twitter: "A message for my old friend @Jacob_Rees_Mogg shut up #letthePMdoherjobwithoutthisconstantcarpingputasockinit".
Even allies of Mr Rees-Mogg suggested that he had gone too far by openly threatening the PM's position.
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Andrew Bowie, a member of the European Research Group, said the party shouldn't act "in the interests of an ideological clique... on whatever side of an argument".
Mr Rees-Mogg's outburst comes ahead of a crunch meeting at the PM's country house Chequers, where the Cabinet will finally thrash out the type of trade deal they want to get with the EU.
Supporters of the leading Brexiteer have reportedly amassed a £750,000 war chest to fund a leadership bid if Mrs May does fall.
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