Robert Peston Robert Peston

The Tory coup that could bring down Theresa May

I learned two things yesterday that will give extra frisson to those votes on Tuesday, when MPs attempt to wrest control of Brexit from the PM.

First is that the six Tory MPs on the executive of the 1922 committee that comprises all Tory MPs, and who are led by Sir Graham Brady, hope and expect the Prime Minister to give official backing to the amendment to her motion that they have all signed. It “requires the Northern Ireland backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border; supports leaving the European Union with a deal and would therefore support the Withdrawal Agreement subject to this change”. The amendment is in the name of Andrew Murrison, and it is a revolt by the men and women in grey suits (the cliché for backbench Tory grandees) – and indeed her former deputy, Damian Green, has also signed it – to force the PM back to the negotiating table with Brussels to flush out whether there is, in practice, a negotiable Brexit deal that the Tory Party and Northern Ireland DUP could support.

“I would hope there is a three-line whip to support this,” one of the signatories told me. “We are trying to help the PM,” another said (with a hint of menace, I thought).

This puts the PM in a very tight spot.

On the one hand, she will understand the logic of Brady, Murrison et al that, if their motion were passed, that would surely demonstrate to the EU’s 27 leaders that “all” they have to do to secure parliamentary ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Brexit plan is ditch the backstop and come up with different arrangements to keep open the border.

On the other, the PM also knows that the EU’s negotiators and the Irish government would interpret her giving official backing to the amendment as, in effect, ripping up the Withdrawal Agreement.

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