Boris Johnson has cancelled a meeting with Tory Brexit rebels, heightening party tensions ahead of what could be an explosive week in Westminster.
Talks with the so-called “Gaukeward squad”, who are against a no-deal Brexit and include former justice secretary David Gauke, had been due to take place on Monday.
But Downing Street said the prime minister had a diary clash, Sky News reported.
The Guardian reported that a showdown meeting with Boris Johnson was meant to take place on Monday, as the former justice secretary David Gauke said he believed the national interest would come first if he faced deselection for opposing a no-deal Brexit.
Gauke, one of several ministers who resigned from the cabinet after Johnson became prime minister, is among a number of ex-cabinet ministers who will back moves in parliament next week to legislate against no deal.
A cross-party alliance of MPs opposed to no deal are expected to begin moves on Tuesday to table a bill mandating Johnson to ask the EU for a further extension to the UK’s membership, which they hope to complete including passage through the House of Lords by the beginning of next week before parliament is prorogued.
Gauke said he hoped Johnson would not follow through with reported threats that any Conservative MP who voted against the government next week would face deselection at the next election.
