Prominent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has rejected claims he is manoeuvring to bring down Theresa May as a former minister accused him of plotting a “coup”.
Phillip Lee, who resigned from the government over Brexit policy, said there was “no doubt” the Eurosceptics were mobilising and called on colleagues to “stand against this nonsense”.
Reports also emerged that Mr Rees-Mogg’s allies had sounded out public relations companies to aid a future leadership bid and amassed a war chest of £750,000.
But addressing the claims, the North East Somerset MP said: “It is what Mr Trump might call fake news.
”I've never heard of this war chest. I've never heard of these PR companies.”
In a podcast for the ConservativeHome website, Mr Rees-Mogg, said there had been a “breakdown in collective responsibility” in the Cabinet, with pro-EU ministers openly promoting solutions “against the Prime Minister's speeches, against the position formally of the Cabinet and against the manifesto”.
He said: “I am trying to support the Prime Minister's position and to remind people that any implementation deal has to get through Parliament, and if it is a bad deal, or it doesn't meet the manifesto commitments, people won't vote for it.”
He insisted he was not “personally ambitious” and was not aware of a £750,000 war chest reportedly raised by supporters for an eventual leadership bid.
On Tuesday, Mr Lee said the “last thing” the Conservative needed was a leadership a challenge. “But when an MP and his supporters have collected £750k to do just that, there is no doubt that Brexiteers are planning a coup,” he said.
“I call on other rational members of the party to stand against this nonsense.”
Mr Lee’s remarks came after Mr Rees-Mogg faced a backlash from colleagues after using a column in the Daily Telegraph to liken the Ms May to 19th-century Tory leader Robert Peel – forced to resign after joining forces with opposition parties to defeat his own MPs.
