Theresa May would survive as prime minister even if six Remainer ministers in her cabinet resigned en masse over a no-deal Brexit, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has suggested.
Her staunch defence of the PM came as fresh blood was let in the long-running Tory row over Brexit, as hardline Eurosceptics put the government at the mercy of an opposition defeat by abstaining on a key Commons vote on her deal on Wednesday night.
Some Remainers also failed to vote, and five Tory MPs voted with the opposition, underlining the depth of Conservative divisions as the government fell to a 303-258 defeat, albeit on a largely symbolic vote.
But speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Leadsom insisted May would continue with her negotiating strategy and dismissed Thursday’s vote as no more than a “hiccup”.
And when asked if May would still be in post if six Remainers were to resign, Leadsom suggested the PM would carry on, saying: “Resignations from government do happen.
“People have very, very strong heartfelt views about leaving the EU or remaining within it. That is a matter for them as individuals.”
Tory Remainer Dominic Grieve, meanwhile, said the minister had told May that if by the end of February there is no workable deal on the table Article 50 should be extended.
“If the prime minister refuses to do that, I think they face a very difficult choice, because unless we as a parliament and as the House of Commons start to work together to take the necessary steps to prevent no-deal happening, no-deal could just occur. It could all be so chaotic, it might just happen by accident,” he said.
“My view is that if they feel she is not taking those steps, I think they are going to have to resign.”
Asked how many ministers could resign, Grieve said: “I think we are talking about a dozen or even more. Not entirely in the cabinet, some are junior ministers.”
On the number of cabinet ministers who could resign, he said: “I’m always hesitant to speak on behalf of colleagues, but I think we are talking of up half a dozen.”
Asked whether this could bring down the government, Grieve said: “Yes it could, and this isn’t a desirable outcome.”
Leadsom said the government was “absolutely” determined to keep no-deal on the table as an option – a key demand of Brexiteers.
“The government does not want no-deal, but it is there because that is the legal default position, and any competent government must prepare for all eventualities,” she told Today.
She added: “[The PM] will continue to seek those legally binding changes to the backstop that will enable Parliament to support our deal.
“Yesterday was more of a hiccup than the disaster that is being reported.”
It came as Tories tore strips off each other over the embarrassing defeat, which came hours after trade secretary Liam Fox warned the EU would be watching.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood described the pro-Brexit European Research Group of MPs’ actions as “provocative”, accusing them of operating as a “party within a party”.
Tory backbencher Jonathan Djanogly also told the BBC’s Newsnight the faction was seeking to “pull the UK off the cliff” in the wake of the vote.
Pro-Remain MP Anna Soubry, meanwhile, said May needed to stand up to the group she described as the “purple Momentum”.
“If she carries on like this, then we all know what is going to happen.
“Our party will become yet again unelectable and we will fall into the wilderness,” she told Newsnight.
But ERG deputy chairman Steve Baker showed no sign the group was about a to back down, dismissing the row as a “storm in a teacup”.
He went on to say the group’s critics should “grow up” as he said the group had not been “co-opted” into ruling out a no-deal Brexit by voting for the government motion.
It is believed the group made a collective decision to abstain after the PM refused to include the so-called “Malthouse compromise” in her Brexit strategy.
Baker insisted their actions would not affect May’s talks with Brussels.
“It’s time for some people to grow up and think about what is in the national interest,” he said.