Furious Tory MPs have condemned Theresa May for opening Brexit talks with Jeremy Corbyn, branding him “not fit to govern” and a “Marxist, antisemite”.
Prime minister’s questions was dominated by Conservatives lining up to attack their leader for turning to Labour in search of a compromise to end the crisis and pass a deal.
David Jones, a former minister, asked if Ms May still believed Mr Corbyn was “not fit to govern” – while Lee Rowley demanded to know “what now qualifies him for involvement in Brexit?”
Caroline Johnson asked where the prime minister stood on the relative risks of a no-deal Brexit and a “Marxist, antisemite-led government”.
And Nigel Evans, an officer of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, invoked Margaret Thatcher when he demanded Ms May say “no, no, no” to a long Article 50 extension.
The clashes came after Nigel Adams became the first minister to quit since the cross-party talks were announced – warning the “calamity of a Corbyn government” was now a real prospect.
In response, sometimes stumbling over her words, Ms May said the talks were necessary because “the public want us to work across this House to find a solution that delivers on Brexit”.
She argued there was common ground between the two parties, including on protecting jobs and workers’ rights – but declined to name any of Mr Corbyn’s policies that she would accept.
Ms May was forced to face the anger of her MPs before meeting Mr Corbyn in her office “for around an hour”, Downing Street anticipated.
She will be accompanied by her chief whip, Julian Smith, and Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay – with Mr Corbyn bringing their equivalents, Nick Brown and Keir Starmer.
Labour will also take Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, like Mr Corbyn a sceptic of a Final Say referendum on any Brexit deal.
Mr Corbyn’s spokesman brushed off “a few insults here or there” from Tory MPs – while laying down a harder line on backing a fresh public vote.
It would only be supported to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit or a no-deal outcome", he insisted, not on any agreement reached, as demanded by Sir Keir and Tom Watson, the deputy leader.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker ruled out another short Brexit delay unless a deal had been passed by the Commons by the crisis summit next Wednesday.
In the Commons, Mr Rowley pointed out that the prime minister had, last week, called the Labour leader “the biggest threat to our standing in the world, to our defence, and to our economy" and asked: "In her judgment what now qualifies him for involvement in Brexit?”
And Mr Jones, a former Brexit minister, asked: “Does it remain the position of the Prime Minister that the leader of the opposition is not fit to govern?”
