Theresa May could face an unprecedented no-confidence vote among grassroots Tories, as the prospect of a crushing defeat in European elections looms.
Local party chairs have been circulating a petition that is on course to force the National Conservative Convention to hold an extraordinary general meeting where members could pressure the prime minister to resign.
The plot emerged as a poll showed Nigel Farage‘s new Brexit Party had stormed into the lead ahead of EU parliament elections next month.
A YouGov poll, commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign, puts the Brexit Party on 27 per cent, ahead of Labour on 22 per cent with the Conservatives trailing on 15 per cent.
It follows the burst of publicity the Brexit Party received with the launch last week of its election campaign, when it was announced that Annunziata Rees-Mogg – the sister of the leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg – would be among its candidates.
It will reinforce fears among ministers the Conservatives are heading for a crushing defeat if the poll on 23 May goes ahead as planned – a result which would almost certainly see fresh calls for Ms May to quit.
The prime minister has said she is determined to get a Brexit deal through Parliament before that date, which would mean voting would be cancelled.
However, that not only means winning a “meaningful vote” on a deal – which has already been rejected three times by the Commons – but also then passing a bill formally ratifying the agreement in law.
Much is likely to depend on whether cross-party talks with Labour can agree a common way forward – with the two sides expected to take stock of progress when MPs return to Westminster after the Easter recess.
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Theresa May could face an unprecedented no-confidence vote among grassroots Tories as local party chairman look to trigger a little-known process that could be "devastating to her authority".
Party chairs have been circulating a petition that could force the National Conservative Convention - the most senior body of the Tories' voluntary wing - to hold an extraordinary general meeting where the vote could be held.
If the petition attracts more than 65 signatures, the party is obliged to hold the meeting. According to the Daily Telegraph, between 40 and 50 chairs have already signed it and that figure could hit the threshold as early as next week.
Dinah Glover, the London East area chairman started the petition, told the newspaper: "There is a lot of frustration and anger within the party – this is a route that we have to demonstrate those feelings so we can encourage MPs to make those feelings known.
“What we need is a new leader who can break the impasse, who passionately believes that Britain has a bright Brexit future.”
A grassroots no-confidence vote would put "massive pressure" on the prime minister resign, according to John Strafford, chair of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy.
"It does not force the issue but would be quite devastating to her authority," he told the Telegraph.
However, it is worth considering just how much authority Theresa May has left.
Mark Wallace, writing for ConservativeHome, notes that a no-confidence vote "would be another embarrassment for the prime minister, but she has ridden out many embarrassments before".
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has has said it would "be better" if Remain-supporting political parties were "fighting together under the same banner" in the forthcoming European elections.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today this morning, Sir Vince acknowledged there was "not a great deal" of difference between his party's message to the electorate and that of new party Change UK - The Independent Group, which will stand on a pro-EU platform calling for a second referendum.
He added: "So, there's a variety of different parties offering the same message, something which is possible under the proportional voting system that we have.
"It's not crazy, I mean it would be better, I think, from the point of view of the supporters of British membership of the EU if we were fighting together under the same banner, and certainly that's something we would like to have seen, but that wasn't possible, we didn't get a positive reaction to that, so we are going on our own."
Theresa May's Brexit strategy has endangered MPs, undermined parliamentary democracy, and wasted billions of pounds, according to Labour politician Pat McFadden.
Writing in The Independent, the MP for Wolverhampton South East says his party leader Jeremy Corbyn must now answer "the call of leadership" by taking "co-ownership" of a Brexit deal or insisting on a second referendum.
Read the full piece:
Opinion: May's Brexit strategy has put MPs in danger and wasted billions – Britain deserves a real leader
It should not be left to backbench MPs to defend Parliamentary democracy when the leader of our country undermines it and legitimises its rejectionExperts have warned Theresa May she has ‘no chance’ of passing a Brexit deal in time to stop European elections, writes my colleague Rob Merrick:
Theresa May warned she has ‘no chance’ of passing Brexit deal in time to stop European elections
Exclusive: Experts dismiss chances of legislation passing by 22 May – putting prime minister on course for ballot box disaster and fresh threat to her jobThe UK will need "something that looks like a customs union, plus something that looks like a single market" to avoid a hard Brexit in Ireland, the head of the UK government's Border Delivery Group has said.
Karen Wheeler, a senior HMRC official appointed by Theresa May to oversee planning for border operations after Brexit, told businesses in Belfast yesterday there was technological solution that would mean "you could do customs controls and processes and not have a hard border".
"There is no magic solution that would make that go away. If there was, trust me, we would have found it," she told the audience.
Speaking later to the Belfast Telegraph, Wheeler added: "What you need is, at the very least, something that looks like a customs union, plus something that looks like a single market, which has no customs or tariffs or regulatory standards or controls, if you are going to have completely free movement of goods across the border."
The Liberal Democrats have accused other anti-Brexit parties of damaging the chances of success in the European elections by refusing to fight on a joint ticket.
Rob Merrick, our deputy political editor, has the full story:
Lib Dems attack other anti-Brexit parties for refusing to fight on joint ticket for European elections
Vince Cable says his party - and voters - wanted parties 'offering the same message' to stand 'under the same banner'The German government has slashed its 2019 economic growth forecast for the second time this year and is now predicting growth of only 0.5 per cent.
Economy minister Peter Altmaier said trade disputes and Brexit uncertainty were weighing on the German economy, as well as domestic factors such as new car emission regulations.
Today's forecast halves the 1% estimate the government presented in late January, when it cut its forecast from 1.8%. It follows a string of downgrades by economists and other groups.
The government envisages a rebound in 2020 with economic expansion of 1.5%.
Last year, gross domestic product expanded by 1.4%.
The chief executive of the Conservative Party has reportedly been forced to tip into his own pockets to fund European election campaigns as donors turn their backs on the party.
Sir Mick Davis, who is also the Tory treasurer, has told cabinet ministers Brexit chaos and party infighting is deterring supporters from donating money, The Times reported.
A Tory source told the newspaper: "Hopefully we'll recoup it later but Mick had to tell cabinet recently about the dire funding situation, particularly among Remain-leaning donors, because of the situation on Brexit."
A party leader in Northern Ireland has called for another Brexit referendum ahead of an expected run for the European Parliament.
Naomi Long, who leads the centrist Alliance Party, said: "If MPs can change their minds every two or three days or every two or three minutes, I see no reason why the public cannot be afforded that opportunity every two or three years."
Her party, the fifth largest in Northern Ireland, garners votes from both nationalist and unionist communities, and has been strongly pro-Remain.
Ms Long said she would confirm her decision on running in the EU elections within the next two days.
The former chief-of-staff for the Department for Exiting the European Union is planning to run for The Independent Group (TIG) against Dominic Raab in the event of a general election.
James Chapman, who was also the Daily Mail's political editor and communications director for then-chancellor George Osborne, has set up a crowdfunding appeal to help him fund a campaign against Raab in his Esher and Walton constituency.
He told the Evening Standard he would run as a TIG candidate "if they will have me".
As things stand he has raised £2,354 of a £100,00 target, but has reportedly already ordered some T-shirts.
Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party has opened up a five-point lead in the next month's elections to the European Parliament, according to a poll.
The YouGov survey, commissioned by the People's Vote campaign, puts the Brexit Party on 27%, ahead of Labour on 22% with the Conservatives trailing on 15%.
The findings - which are weighted by likelihood to vote - represent a surge in support for the new party since last week, when a YouGov poll for The Times last week put them on 15% - almost level-pegging with the Tories on 16%, and behind Labour on 24%.
The surge follows a burst of publicity for the Brexit Party after the launch of its election campaign last week, when it was announced that Annunziata Rees-Mogg - the sister of the leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg - would be among its candidates.
It will reinforce fears among ministers that the Conservatives are heading for a crushing defeat if the poll on 23 May goes ahead as planned - a result which would almost certainly see fresh calls for Theresa May to quit.
Pro-Brexit campaign group Leave.EU has been accused of faking a viral video of illegal "migrants" and forging images purporting to show immigrants committing violent crimes.
The group, which is led by businessman and former Ukip donor Arron Banks, staged a video that it claimed showed how easy it was for migrants to cross to Britain illegally, according to Channel 4 News.
The video was released in the weeks before the 2016 EU referendum and was watched hundreds of thousands of times. But Channel 4 said satellite data showed that the boat had never left UK waters, and footage appearing to show the "migrants" entering the country was filmed before they left UK shores.
Here's the full story, by my colleague Ben Kentish:
The UK's treatment of EU citizens since the Brexit referendum has been "shameful", Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said, calling for an end to "dog whistle xenophobia" in politics.
Scotland "wants no part of Theresa May's despicable" hostile environment" and must send a message it is a "welcoming country", Ms Sturgeon added in a speech at the Scottish Trades Union Congress.
She said:
We reject utterly the dog whistle xenophobia that is too prevalent in political discourse and we stand firm and united against the rise of the far right.
One of the most shameful, and I use that word deliberately, shameful aspects of Brexit has been the treatment of EU citizens living here in our country.
No-one, least of all me, pretends that Scotland is somehow immune from racism. We are not, but the message that we as leaders must send is this one - Scotland is an open country, we are a welcoming country. We want people to come to Scotland and we want people to stay in Scotland.
Diversity is not a weakness. Diversity is a strength to be celebrated and we are determined to do that.
There will be "no chance" of a US-UK trade agreement if Brexit threatens the Good Friday Agreement, US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi has said.
Speaking during visit to Dublin, the senior Democrat politician said her country stood with Ireland as it faced challenges posed by the UK's exist from the EU, including the looming threat of a hard border.
She told politicians during a speech in Irish parliament: "We must ensure nothing happens in the Brexit discussion that threatens the Good Friday accord.
"If the Brexit deal undermines the accord there will be no chance of a US-UK trade agreement.
"That's just not on the cards.
Ms Pelosi is part of a delegation of high-ranking US politicians on a two-day fact-finding mission to the country.
She received a standing ovation as she arrived in Dail chamber this afternoon.
Justine Greening, the former Tory education secretary, has said she has found it "challenging" to be a Conservative MP recently.
Ms Greening called for "significant root-and-branch change" to the party and stronger leadership, and said if the Tories do not represent the "broad mass" of the British public then it will not be successful.
Asked if she had considered leaving the party, Ms Greening told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "It's certainly a challenging time, I think, for me to be in the Conservative Party.
"For me, it was about three things: it was about opportunity, a strong economy and well-managed public finances.
"Clearly, I think if we become the Brexit party that really goes against those three core tenets of what I think being a Conservative Party member is all about."
Boris Johnson "will be very difficult to stop" of he makes the run-off in the race to succeed Theresa May, writes our political columnist Andrew Grice. But it is Amber Rudd who could decide the contest, he says:
Opinion: This is the Tory who will decide who succeeds Theresa May
There are now eight candidates in the running to succeed Theresa May, but who will sufficiently impress Amber Rudd?Claims that pro-Brexit campaign group Leave.EU faked a viral video purported to show illegal migrants prove the referendum was "rotten" and should be re-run, says Sean O'Grady:
Opinion: The latest Leave.EU scandal proves the Brexit vote was rotten
We are ready now as we were not in 2016 to make the judgementAll traffic entrances to the Houses of Parliament have been shut by climate protesters.
The activists in Westminster are taking part in demonstrations organised by Extinction Rebellion, a group which is calling for non-violent civil disobedience to push the government to take more urgent action over global warming.
Protests have been taking place in Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch since Monday, with organisers saying the action will continue for a fortnight.
