Softer Brexit 'inevitable' says top Tory whip Julian Smith

One of Theresa May's most senior enforcers has taken the highly unusual move of criticising the Government's approach to Brexit and attacked Cabinet members over the "worst example of ill-discipline in British political history".

Tory chief whip Julian Smith has said ministers pursued the wrong strategy after the Prime Minister lost the Conservatives' Commons majority in the 2017 snap election.

He said the result of the poll meant Mrs May simply did not have enough MPs to back a harder version of Brexit.

Mr Smith's comments were published by the BBC amid speculation that Parliament may force the PM to seek membership of a customs union with Brussels in order to pass her deal, which would mean ripping up one of her key red lines.

"The thing that people forget is that the Conservative Party went to get a majority in order to deliver Brexit (and) failed to get a majority," the chief whip said.

He added: "The Government as a whole probably should just have been clearer on the consequences of that.

"The parliamentary arithmetic would mean that this would be inevitably a softer type of Brexit."

While the strategy was apparently misjudged, Mr Smith said he was "frustrated" by MPs who "don't see the light as clearly as I do".

Mrs May's deal has now fallen three times in the Commons, with Tory MPs among those who voted against it on each occasion.

However Mr Smith highlighted that a lack of discipline extended all the way to the Cabinet, with ministers "sitting around the Cabinet table ... trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)".

"This is I think the worst example of ill-discipline in Cabinet in British political history," he said.

On Monday evening MPs are set to take back control of the Brexit agenda in a fresh attempt to find an alternative to the PM's deal that Parliament can support.

The Commons will stage a second round of "indicative" votes on Monday on a series of rival proposals tabled by backbenchers to see if any can command a majority.

The move comes as Mrs May struggles to contain the rising tensions with her Cabinet as the clock counts down to the latest EU deadline on April 12.

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Despite seeing her deal again defeated on Friday, the Prime Minister is determined to bring it back to the Commons for a fourth time - possibly as early as Tuesday - in a final roll of the dice to get it over the line.

Mrs May spent the weekend trying to build support among MPs who could be won over, with aides saying she was "100% focused" on getting the result she needed.

Some in Parliament believe that if MPs begin to coalesce around a "softer" Brexit in Monday's votes, it may finally convince Brexiteer hold-outs that the PM's deal now represents the "hardest" break with the EU available.

The pro-EU Justice Secretary David Gauke warned Mrs May not to ignore the will of Parliament if it does swing behind a "softer" deal such as the customs union plan proposed by Tory veteran Ken Clarke, which came closest to gaining a majority in the first round of indicative votes.