Tory MP Nigel Adams has quit as a minister in the Wales office and as a government Whip in protest at Theresa May’s decision to hold Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn.
In his resignation letter, the Selby and Ainsty MP attacked the prime minister for pursuing a new plan “cooked up with a Marxist”.
He said May was “simultaneously failing” to deliver the Brexit people voted for and prevent “the calamity of a Corbyn government”.
May is expected to meet Corbyn for talks on Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to “break the logjam” over Brexit.
May said on Tuesday that she would seek an extension beyond next week to allow negotiations with the Labour leader aimed at ensuring the UK leaves the European Union “in a timely and orderly way”.
Corbyn said he would be “very happy” to meet the prime minister in a bid to offer “certainty and security” to the British people.
The move has prompting fury among eurosceptic Tories. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said: “It is very disappointing that the Cabinet has decided to entrust the final handling of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party.”
Conservative MP Henry Smith said May represents a “monumental failure of British leadership, a betrayal of the majority who voted to leave the EU and Conservative Party membership”, and added that he could not “countenance her Corbyn/Brexit process”.
The DUP said it “remains to be seen if subcontracting out the future of Brexit to Jeremy Corbyn, someone whom the Conservatives have demonised for four years, will end happily”.
But Environment Secretary Michael Gove said he backed the talks with Labour because he wants to leave the EU.
The leaders’ meeting is expected to take place as a cross-party group of senior MPs launches a separate attempt to force the PM to stop a no-deal Brexit by tabling legislation requiring her to delay Britain’s withdrawal beyond April 12.
A group of MPs – including Conservative grandee Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Yvette Cooper – aim to fully pass a Bill through the Commons on Wednesday to stop the UK crashing out of the EU.
It follows the rejection of her Withdrawal Agreement three times in the Commons and failure of MPs to back any of the alternative proposals considered so far.