Tories at war: Rebels willing to lose their jobs to block ‘no-deal’ Brexit

The Conservative Party is in internal open warfare, as its leadership threatens to deselect all Tory rebels planning to stop a no-deal Brexit. Defiant rebels insist they’re willing to get the sack over the intractable issue.

This week is being billed by many as ‘make-or-break’ juncture for the Tory Party, as British MPs return from summer recess with reports that UK premier Boris Johnson has ostensibly warned Conservative Party rebels: defy me on Brexit and get the sack.

As Johnson looks to get Brexit over the line with his planned suspension of parliament on September 9, a rebel alliance of opposition lawmakers, including Conservative MPs, are readying themselves to vote on legislation to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on October 31.

One such Tory MP, Antoinette Sandbach, commenting during an interview on Sky News on Monday, appeared undeterred by the threats to remove the party whip from Conservative rebels. She insisted that she was prepared to “put my job on the line” and vote “against no-deal Brexit” later this week.

Sandbach hit out at the “staggering hypocrisy” of Johnson threatening to remove the whip from those Tories who refuse to back the government in any vote to stop a no-deal Brexit. While Sandbach and other rebels backed former PM Theresa May’s deal –three times– Johnson failed to do the same.

It comes as Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg told LBC radio that any move to pass legislation to block the UK leaving the EU without a deal would “essentially [be] a confidence matter” in Johnson’s government.

“Is there really a conservative in this country who thinks Jeremy Corbyn should control our legislative agenda?” remarked Rees-Mogg.

On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth II approved Johnson’s request to suspend parliament from September 9 to October 14. The move sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from opposition lawmakers, amid accusations that the prime minister was attempting to stage a ‘coup’ of sorts, by circumventing parliamentary norms at a crucial point in the Brexit process.

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