May struggles to hold Chequers plan together

There is growing unrest among Tories who are pushing for a hard Brexit and want the prime minister to go back to the drawing board.

And now election strategist Sir Lynton Crosby, who helped Boris Johnson win the London mayoralty, is reportedly involved in a bid to scupper the cabinet’s Chequers compromise.

Sir Lynton is believed to be manoeuvring to derail the PM’s EU withdrawal agenda with a co-ordinated national campaign.

The claims emerged as former minister and high-profile Tory MP Nick Boles, who backed Remain at the referendum, came out against the Chequers deal and Davis told The Marr Show he would vote against the plans.

Boles told the Sunday Telegraph that under current government plans, the UK faces ‘the humiliation of a deal dictated by Brussels’, which is treating the Chequers proposals as an ‘opening bid’.

The PM also dismissed calls for a ‘people’s vote’ on the terms of withdrawal.

She said: ‘To ask the question all over again would be a gross betrayal of our democracy.’

May also said Britain would get through a no-deal outcome and ‘thrive’.

The PM’s aides have held talks with senior civil servants about whether to call a general election if a Brexit deal is rejected by MPs, according to the Sunday Times.