Leading members of the European Research Group criticised an article written by the Prime Minister today in which she promises to ‘battle for Britain’ in Brussels. 

Mrs May is expected to return to Brussels this week to reopen talks on the Irish border backstop component of the divorce deal.  Her renegotiation comes after she won a Commons vote on Tuesday backing changes to the backstop. 

But rumours re-appeared today she would get no more than a legal ‘codicil’ – an extra document attached to the deal explaining why the backstop would be temporary – and not a full re-write of the protocol. 

Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the Brexiteer ERG, warned Mrs May this would not be enough and suggested she was ‘co-opting’ his members without permission. 

As well as a full re-write of the backstop, the ERG is also unhappy with the £39billion divorce bill Britain has promised to pay.

Signally the renewed revolt today, Mr Baker said:  ‘Trouble ahead. Leave-backing MPs voted to support alternative arrangements in NI but with grave misgivings about the whole agreement.

‘Now the PM co-opts us into accepting everything but the backstop and, on the backstop, accepting a codicil.’ 

Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns added: ‘No Prime Minister, we said we would support the amendment to send a message to EU re the Backstop.

‘We all said there are other issues with Withdrawal Agreement. Britain deserves a better deal.’ 

Tory Simon Clarke added: ‘I have huge admiration for Nicky Morgan for her key role in delivering the Malthouse Compromise – a challenge for both Remainers and Leavers but a way forward for us all.

‘If the Withdrawal Agreement is to pass, this is how – not talk of codicils etc.’ 

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As tensions reached boiling point with just over 24 hours to go before a vote that could define the country’s future, Gareth Johnson said he putting his ‘loyalty to the country above loyalty to the government’.

The dramatic move came despite the PM launching a desperate last-ditch bid save her plan – warning that voting it down would be the ‘height of recklessness’ and might mean staying in the EU.

There are fears that the resignation could open the floodgates – with several other ministers and whips thought to be on the brink. 

In his letter to Mrs May this afternoon, Mr Johnson said he believed the package thrashed out with Brussels would be ‘detrimental to the national interest’ and set Northern Ireland ‘apart from the rest of the UK’.

‘I have therefore decided the time has come to place my loyalty to my country above my loyalty to the government,’ he wrote.

Government sources tried to play down the resignation – the 13th for Mrs May over Brexit – pointing out that Mr Johnson represents the heavily Leave-supporting Dartford constituency.

• In another rollercoaster day at Westminster as the moment of truth looms for the PM’s deal:
• EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and council president Donald Tusk sent letters assuring the government that the Irish border backstop is only intended to be temporary – but insisted that the Withdrawal Agreement will not be reopened. 
• A Remainer coup plot designed to seize power over the Brexit process from the government and hand it to Parliament appeared to be on the verge of collapsing. Senior pro-EU MPs dismissed the idea, floated by former minister Nick Boles, as flying in the face of the constitution. 
• More Labour MPs broke ranks to say they will defy Jeremy Corbyn and back the PM’s deal tomorrow – although the numbers still look incredibly grim for Mrs May. 
• Boris Johnson warned that politicians will ‘reap the whirlwind’ if they try to defy the result of the referendum with procedural ‘jiggery-pokery’. 

Before the resignation, Mrs May had appealed for Tory Eurosceptics to look at the mounting revolt by Remainers, and realise that Parliament is ready to block the country from crashing out.

In a speech in Leave-voting Stoke-on-Trent, Mrs May said it was clear some politicians would use ‘every device’ to stop Brexit happening.

Underlining the dangers of the crisis wracking Westminster, she urged MPs to consider the ‘consequences’ of their actions for people’s faith in democracy.

Mrs May also pointed to the letter from the EU chiefs, which insists the Irish border backstop – the most controversial part of the Brexit deal – will only be ‘temporary’. 

‘We have secured valuable new clarifications and assurances,’ Mrs May said, while admitting that the commitment ‘did not go as far’ as some MPs wanted. 

Despite her scramble, Mrs May looks to be on track for a catastrophic defeat tomorrow night – with frantic manoeuvring under way over what happens next. 

A dozen Tory former ministers including Boris Johnson have urged wavering colleagues to stand firm against the deal, saying leaving on World Trade Organisation terms would not be a disaster.  

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