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Conservative party chairman accused of threatening to cut funding from MP opponents of Chequers deal

Andrea Jenkyns with her son Clifford
Andrea Jenkyns with her son Clifford

When Andrea Jenkyns received a call from Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative Party, she knew it was unlikely to be good news. 

The 44-year-old Tory MP has rapidly emerged as one of the most vociferous opponents of the Prime Minister's Brexit plans and was one of the first Tory MPs to publicly call for Theresa May to go.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that on Saturday last week  Mr Lewis called Ms Jenkyns and allegedly "hinted" that funding for leaflets in her marginal, Brexit-backing seat of Morley and Outwood in Yorkshire could be cut.

In an interview Ms Jenkyns confirmed that she had been contacted by a "senior figure" at the Conservative Party as the party attempted to retain discipline over Mrs May's Chequers compromise. 

Brandon Lewis, chairman of the Conservative Party
Brandon Lewis, chairman of the Conservative Party

"On Saturday alone I got three calls," she said. "Not directly saying this but hinting that we’ve really supported you over the years and you’re meant to be having funding for these leaflets, do you realise, and hinting that the funding could be removed.

"My response was that bank benchers shouldn’t be silenced. If you want to [cut my funding], just do it, but I’m sure you want a Conservative in that seat, whether it’s me or somebody else.”

Allies of Mr Lewis insist that he was highlighting the support that the Conservative Party has given Ms Jenkyns, rather than threatening to remove her funding. 

However his intervention has infuriated Tory Eurosceptics and represents a significant escalation of tensions with Downing Street.

Chequers Brexit deal | Read more
Chequers Brexit deal | Read more

It feeds into concerns that the Government is pushing a “soft” Brexit that favours London and the South at the expense of the hard Brexit that swathes of the North supported.

Ms Jenkyns won her Morley and Outwood seat from Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, in 2015 with a majority of just 422. 

At the time of last year’s snap election was called her newborn son, Clifford, was just three weeks old, meaning she had to combine campaigning with caring for her baby and recovering from a caesarian. She increased her majority to 2,104.

For Ms Jenkyns, the Prime Minister’s Chequer’s plan is a “sub-zero Brexit” that she is determined to stop. She has had hundreds of letter from furious constituents describing the deal as a “betrayal of Brexit” - something she agrees with wholeheartedly.

Andrea Jenkyns with her son, Clifford
Andrea Jenkyns with her son, Clifford

She has been publicly castigated by two colleagues with one calling for her to be blocked from using Twitter. Her response is typical - she has blocked both of them from seeing her messages. 

“Let’s face it, some of these people care more about their career and getting up the greasy pole. It’s like they’re saying ‘pick me, pick me, I’m loyal and I want a promotion’.

“ I couldn’t not be myself really, and not be honest. That might be a fault of mine really, too honest and too blunt. I think when you get to your 40s you are what you are. 

She has also become a popular hate-figure for Remainers on Twitter, and received messages comparing her to Hitler, accusing her of being racist and describing her as thick. 

“The worst are the sanctimonious ones, that’s what I can’t stand. The ones where the Remainers believe that they are better educated than you, they think Brexiteers are thick.”

On Theresa May, Ms Jenkyns is clear: “It is time for her to go.”

“I don’t think she has passion for either Remain or Brexit, I think she has a passion for what’s workable,” she said. “She’s got a mindset of what she considers to be the right way forward, and I don’t think she’s listening to anybody else.

"I think they’ve lost sight of what people have voted for. I think it would be catastrophic for the party, because I think voters will punish them if we don’t get a proper Brexit.”

Ms Jenkyns believes that betraying Brexit voters will lead to an erosion of trust in politics that will easily eclipse the expenses scandal. “We know with the expenses scandal, trust in politicians went into a downward spiral," she said. "This is worse."