Rishi Sunak was this morning forced to beg right-wing Tory MPs to support his flagship Rwanda bill.
In a major humiliation for the prime minister, around 15 potential rebels were invited into No.10 for breakfast to try to persuade them not to vote against the government tonight.
The group - which even included deputy Tory chairman Lee Anderson - was pictured walking up Downing Street at 7.30am.
Others present included Jonathan Gullis, Danny Kruger, Neil O’Brien, Miriam Cates and Jill Mortimer.
In a sign of the bitter civil war tearing the Conservatives apart, one former cabinet minister described the gathering as “a nutters’ convention”.
A Tory aide told HuffPost UK: “Breakfast with Gullis and Kruger - the PM must be wondering where his life went so badly wrong.”
MPs will vote on the Safety of Rwanda Bill at second reading just after 7pm tonight.
Following a meeting of five different right-wing Tory factions yesterday, the PM was urged to drop the bill after lawyers said it was “partial and incomplete”.
In a boost for Sunak, members of the One Nation Caucus of Tory MPs last night said they would support it.
However, they warned that any attempts to toughen up the bill to allow ministers to ignore court rulings under the European Convention on Human Rights - as demanded by the right-wing MPs - would see them vote against it.
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson this morning insisted that the government will not pull the bill and tonight’s vote will go ahead.
However, he risked further angering the right-wingers by saying it would not be “British” to give the government the power to ignore the courts.
He told Radio Four’s Today programme: “What it is not possible to do is to shut out every single claim, nor is that right.
“It would breach international law and that is not the right thing to do, and it is not the British thing to do - not even in the Second World War did we shut out claims going to court and nor can we and nor should we here.”