Theresa May warned her Brexit strategy risks handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to Downing Street

<em>Theresa May has been warned that she risks making Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister if she persists with her Brexit strategy (Rex)</em>
Theresa May has been warned that she risks making Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister if she persists with her Brexit strategy (Rex)

Theresa May’s Brexit strategy risks making Jeremy Corbyn the Prime Minister, two top Tories have warned.

Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield, who both quit as co-vice chairmen of the party in protest at the Chequers deal, said that Mrs May’s plans for close ties with Europe could put Labour in power.

Ms Caulfield said in her resignation letter that the Brexit blueprint agreed on Friday would be ‘bad for our country and bad for the party’.

She wrote: ‘The direct consequences of that will be Prime Minister Corbyn.’

Mr Bradley, who backed Remain in the EU referendum but represents the Leave constituency of Mansfield, added: ‘Being tied to EU regulations and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements will be the worst of all worlds.

<em>Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley resigned as Tory vice-chairs over the PM’s Chequers proposal (PA)</em>
Maria Caulfield and Ben Bradley resigned as Tory vice-chairs over the PM’s Chequers proposal (PA)

‘If we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to Number 10.’

Ms Caulfield and Mr Bradley’s resignations follow Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quitting the Cabinet at the start of the week, throwing Mrs May’s leadership into crisis.

Eurosceptics have warned the Prime Minister that she will face a co-ordinated campaign of one resignation every day until Parliament starts recess in two week’s time, according to the Telegraph.

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The group of Tory MPs reportedly has the required 48 names who are prepared to write to the 1922 Committee, triggering a leadership contest.

A source told the paper ‘This is not going to stop. We want the Chequers plan killed, and we want it killed now. This is guerilla war.’

Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns, a vocal critic of Mrs May, said it was time to ‘put country first’.

<em>Boris Johnson and David Davis quit their ministerial posts over the Government’s handling of Brexit (Rex)</em>
Boris Johnson and David Davis quit their ministerial posts over the Government’s handling of Brexit (Rex)

She told BBC Two’s Newsnight: ‘I think if the Prime Minister makes further concessions with the EU then there will no doubt be more resignations from Brexiteers in the Cabinet, from junior ministers to PPSs because there is only so much that you can give in a negotiation.’

However, Tory former minister Mark Francois said a confidence vote in the PM was not the ‘right thing to do’.

But he warned he felt ‘very strongly about the future of my country’ and said Tories had ‘real concerns’ about the direction of Brexit.

He told the programme: ‘What we are trying to do is not open revolt but we are trying to tell the Prime Minister and the Cabinet that we have got real concerns about where this is going.

‘We want to hold the party together and so we would like those concerns seriously to be taken into account.

<em>Mrs May faces a possible vote of no confidence in her leadership (Rex)</em>
Mrs May faces a possible vote of no confidence in her leadership (Rex)

‘I don’t think that’s an unreasonable proposition.’

Meanwhile, new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is said to be stepping up plans for a ‘no deal’ scenario in an attempt to show Brussels that the Government is ‘not bluffing’.

A source told The Sun that ‘preparations for no deal are actually much further down the line than people realise’.

The Government is also reportedly stockpiling billions of pounds worth of processed food and drink in case Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Mrs May is currently in Brussels for a Nato meeting which is also being attended by Donald Trump, who described the UK as being in ‘turmoil’ after the resignations of Mr Johnson and Mr Davis.

The PM will hold a regional Cabinet in Newcastle in July, which is likely to include discussions about Brexit.