May summons Brexiteer plotters to Chequers today

May summons Brexiteer plotters to Chequers today amid Cabinet war over ‘f****** coup’ to replace her

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Boris Johnson and a host of hardline Brexiteers will hold crunch talks with Theresa May today as Cabinet ministers orchestrate a coup to topple the beleaguered Prime Minister.

The former foreign secretary will join European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg and ex-ministers Dominic Raab, David Davis, Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green at her Buckinghamshire retreat this afternoon.

Sources said they were invited to meet with Theresa May, who is using the weekend to meet various groups with different views on Brexit, rather than demanding an audience.

All but Mr Green are bitter opponents of Theresa May’s handling of Brexit and are considered among the leading Brexiteer canidates to replace her if and when she steps down.ADVERTISING

It is also Mr Johnson’s second meeting with Mrs May in three days, after he visited her in Downing Street on Friday afternoon.

The presence of senior ERG figures like Mrs Rees-Mogg and Mr Duncan Smith will give Mrs May a chance to talk them around over her Brexit deal.

The votes of its members will be key to any chance Mrs May has of getting it through Parliament next week – if it is brought to a vote at all.

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Boris Johnson seen entering Downing Street on Friday, where he had a meeting with Theresa May. He has been a vociferous critic of her Brexit deal

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ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg is also among those believed to be attending Chequers this afternoon for a showdown with Theresa May

It came as Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington insisted today he does not want to replace her as Prime Minister as he found himself at the centre of a cabinet coup.

The Cabinet Office minister spoke out ahead of crunch talks between the PM and hardline Brexiteers including Boris Johnson at Chequers this afternoon, as ministers plotted to topple her.

As senior cabinet figures complained that the Prime Minister’s judgement had reportedly gone ‘haywire’ in recent weeks Mr Lidington, her de-facto deputy Prime Minister, was named as a possible caretaker if she is forced out.

But Brexiteers who could not stomach the little-known Remainer being in charge at a crucial time for Brexit are plotting to get 2016 Leave mastermind and Environment Secretary Michael Gove installed instead.

One Cabinet Minister branded the plot ‘a f****** coup.’

Mr Lidington told reporters in his Aylesbury constituency today: ‘I don’t think that I’ve any wish to take over from the PM (who) I think is doing a fantastic job.

‘I tell you this: one thing that working closely with the Prime Minister does is cure you completely of any lingering shred of ambition to want to do that task.

‘I have absolute admiration for the way she is going about it.’