Dominic Raab has been heavily criticised after suggesting Theresa May has failed to stand up to a bullying European Union over the Brexit deal.
Raab, who stepped down as Brexit secretary on Thursday saying he could not accept the terms of the deal done by the Prime Minister, told the Sunday Times the UK should demand an agreement that allows it to unilaterally leave any customs union.
He said: “If we cannot close this deal on reasonable terms we need to be very honest with the country that we will not be bribed and blackmailed or bullied and we will walk away.
“I think there is one thing that is missing and that is political will and resolve. I am not sure that message has ever landed.”
But Raab was pulled up on social media over comments - Labour peer Andrew Adonis called him a “disgrace”.
While others suggested as Brexit secretary, it should have in fact been him who stood up to the EU.
Raab’s comments came after two opinion polls suggested the week of chaos in Westminster has badly dented the Conservatives’ election fortunes, with the Tories now trailing Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
Amid ongoing talk of a plot to replace May through a confidence vote, one of her ministers said there is still time for “more to be done” on the Brexit deal, despite an EU summit scheduled for November 25 to confirm it.
Andrea Leadsom, the Brexiteer Commons’ leader, said she supports the Prime Minister but suggested there is an opportunity before the special European Council meeting to get “the best possible deal for the UK”.
Both May and Raab are due to take their arguments on to television screens on Sunday morning.
Author Robert Hutton said Raab’s plan as outline in the Sunday Times lacked “democracy or Parliamentary consent”.
At the end of a bruising week for the Prime Minister, she used an interview with the Daily Mail on Saturday to tell her critics their alternative plans for Brexit would not solve the main problem – the North Ireland/Ireland border backstop arrangement.
She told the newspaper: “People say ‘if you could only just do something slightly different, have a Norway model or a Canada model, this backstop issue would go away’. It would not. That issue is still going to be there.
“Some politicians get so embroiled in the intricacies of their argument they forget it is not about this theory or that theory, or does it make me look good.”
Last week saw the departure of Raab and work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, plus the launch of a high-profile insurrection on the backbenches to remove May from office.
She responded by bringing former home secretary Amber Rudd, who quit over the Windrush scandal, back into Cabinet to replace McVey.
Steve Barclay took over as Brexit Secretary but with a reduced role.