Anna Soubry has revealed she and her constituency manager received a death threat after she said “hard ideological Brexiteers” such as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson should be “slung” out of the Conservative Party.
The Broxtowe MP told BBC Newsnight on Tuesday evening she had reported the phone call to the police.
Theresa May yesterday announced a crackdown on social media abuse amid fears its is putting women off becoming MPs.
It is not the first time Soubry has received death threats. In December she submitted a dossier of threats of violence against her to the Commons Speaker.
Other pro-Remain Tory MPs, including former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have also revealed they have received death threats.
Speaking on Newsnight on Monday, Soubry - an outspoken Remain campaigner - warned the Conservative Party was “in hock” to 35 eurosceptics who have already toppled John Major and David Cameron.
“It is about time Theresa stood up to them and slung ’em out,” she said. “They are not the Tory party I joined 40 years ago.
“They have taken down Major, they took down Cameron, two great leaders neither of whom stood up to them. If it comes to it I am not going to stay in a party which has been taken over by the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson,” she said.
On Tuesday, former education secretary Justine Greening also hinted she would consider leaving the Tories should Rees-Mogg succeed May. She told the BBC’s Daily Politics it would be a “bit of a stretch” for her to remain in the party under his leadership.
Boris Johnson is set to underline his status as the government’s leading Brexiteer with a major speech on February 14, Valentine’s Day, making the “liberal” case for leaving the EU.
Johnson had been due to make his speech on Monday, setting out his ‘red lines’ ahead of a crunch Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit this week, but rescheduled it amid fears the move would be seen as too provocative.
Rees-Mogg meanwhile has issued another Brexit warning to May after claims the EU wants the power to issue instant punishments to the UK during any transition period.
It has been reported Brussels is looking to bypass the European Court of Justice (ECJ) if it believes the UK has breached EU law during the transition period.
Avoiding the lengthy ECJ process could see the UK hit with penalising trade tariffs, the introduction of lengthy customs checks at borders and even the grounding of European-bound flights from Britain in an instant.
Emerging from a meeting of Brexit-hardliners this evening, Rees-Mogg hit out at the plan, saying if the UK is forced to accept the jurisdiction of the ECJ during the transition period, the EU must also follow the Courts processes and rules. “It’s not something we could accept,” said Rees-Mogg.