Cabinet ministers fell over themselves to brief their Brexit positions after the marathon seven-hour meeting broke up. However, there were soon conflicting reports about how much Brexiter ministers were really adopting hardline positions in the meeting, or just claiming to have done so afterwards, perhaps with leadership ambitions in mind.
Some cabinet sources said at least 14 cabinet ministers were fighting for no deal in preference to a long delay. But others pointed out the real choice was between a short delay and a no-deal Brexit, of which only four members of the cabinet were in favour. This is how the arguments broke down:
Any extension to find a deal
There were at least 11 ministers present who agreed with the overall plan to ask for a longer extension and reach out to try to find a compromise with Labour or parliament more widely. These were Theresa May, David Lidington, Michael Gove, Philip Hammond, David Gauke, Amber Rudd, Matt Hancock, Greg Clark, Damian Hinds, Claire Perry and Geoffrey Cox. The views of David Mundell, Karen Bradley, Julian Smith and Caroline Nokes appear likely to fall into this camp but were not immediately clear.
Keep second referendum on the table
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is known to have made the argument that a second referendum may be necessary but this did not garner much support from his colleagues.
Oppose a long delay to Brexit but accept a short one
Some cabinet sources said there were 10 ministers who were OK with a short delay until 22 May for a final push to get May’s deal or a modified deal through but they certainly did not want a long delay. Cabinet sources circulated this widely as Liam Fox, Sajid Javid, Jeremy Wright, Andrea Leadsom, Natalie Evans, Jeremy Hunt, Stephen Barclay, James Brokenshire, Alun Cairns and Brandon Lewis. The Telegraph claimed these ministers were all in favour of no deal, but their stance was less punchy behind closed doors. One cabinet source told the Guardian that, surprisingly, only James Brokenshire and Jeremy Wright spoke out strongly against a long delay.
No deal over any delay to Brexit
The strongest hardliners by all accounts were Chris Grayling, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss and Gavin Williamson, who did not support any extension to article 50 – by implication preferring no deal to delaying Brexit further.
