Hard Brexiteers will not hesitate to destroy Tories or PM, says Anna Soubry

Former Tory minister Anna Soubry has launched a scathing attack on her Hard Brexiteer colleagues, saying they would destroy the party and the prime minister to get the Brexit they wanted.

The leading Remain rebel pulled no punches, saying that 35 of her colleagues had been “banging on about Europe” for decades in a way that was not “particularly good for their mental health”.

In a biting Commons speech Ms Soubry called on the Government to “get a grip”, park the Brexiteers and build a consensus across the House.

She said: “This madness has to stop. Now if we were in the middle of the summer I might say that it was an over-exposure to a hot sun that seems to have caused a collective outbreak in the government of a form of madness.

“Their inability to grasp Brexit and do the right thing frankly is now at a point where as I say, it has got to stop.”

She added: “There are millions and millions of people in this country who do not believe that either of the two political parties in this country represent their views.

“I see it in these terms, I think there’s a group of people, the Hard Brexiteers, and you aren’t going to change them.

“In my own party my government believes that somehow they can manage the 35 Hard Brexiteers, who’ve been banging on about Europe in a way at times which I think is not particularly good for their mental health for decades.

“They think they can manage them, you can’t manage them. Even if you gave them what they wanted today they would complain that you hadn’t done it yesterday.

“It’s a battle to death as far as many of them are concerned and they will not hesitate to destroy this party, to destroy our Prime Minister to get what they want. They can see the prize and they’re damned if anybody is going to get in their way.

“The government needs to wake up to that reality.”

Ms Soubry went on to advocate for a second referendum as the country had been “lied to” in the referendum campaign with numerous “cons and tricks” being played.

Her remarks came after Brexit minister Robin Walker confirmed the government would release a leaked economic analysis to the Exiting the European Union Select Committee following pressure from Labour.