Amber Rudd warns Remainer MPs could bring down No Deal Government

One of Jeremy Hunt’s most senior allies warned yesterday that MPs would block No Deal in October – and could even bring down the Government.

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said the number of Tories prepared to vote against a No Deal prime minister in a confidence vote was ‘easily there’.

Mr Hunt insisted yesterday that if he became prime minister he would leave without a deal if it was a choice between that and No Brexit.

But Miss Rudd said Tory Remainers would bring down the government to stop No Deal, although she would not join such a rebellion, calling it a ‘step too far’. But she added: ‘There are a number of colleagues who have gone public saying they would consider doing that, and there are a number I know of privately who say that.’

Meanwhile, Mr Hunt signalled that Brexit could be delayed for several months – and refused three times to say it would happen by the end of the year.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, the Tory leadership hopeful rounded on his rival Boris Johnson’s determination to leave by the current deadline of October 31.

He said there was not time to negotiate a new deal with the EU before then, meaning Mr Johnson’s policy would result in ‘either a No Deal Brexit or a general election’.

However, he said it would be ‘completely unacceptable’ if Brexit didn’t happen before the next election.

Warning against guaranteeing a departure on October 31, he said: ‘If we are saying that we’re going to choose headlong for no deal Brexit on 31st of October, or an election, those are very stark choices.

‘We have holidays over the summer, we have a new European Commission, we have very few parliamentary sitting days… and my argument is, are those really the best options, those very stark choices between a no deal Brexit or an election?’