Emotional Anna Soubry leads trio of former Tories in stinging attack on Theresa May... as they warn more defections are on the cards

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Three MPs who quit the Tories today appealed to ministers to stand down from the Government and join them to stop “no deal” Brexit chaos.

Anna Soubry, Dr Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen walked out, claiming the Government was “firmly in the grip” of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s hardline Eurosceptic European Research Group and the Democratic Unionist Party.

In a stinging attack on the Prime Minister, Ms Allen said Theresa May had been "bullied into submission" by the European Research Group of Conservatives and was "dragging the country and Parliament kicking and screaming to the edge of a no deal abyss."

Ms Soubry lashed out at hardline "entryism" into the Conservative Party which had resulted in "tyranny" where MPs were more afraid of their local associations than their voters.

“I’m not leaving the Conservative Party, it has left us,” former business minister Ms Soubry declared at a lunchtime press conference in Westminster.

A couple of hours earlier the trio resigned to join eight former Labour MPs as independents in a political earthquake rocking both main parties.

The move, just an hour before Prime Minister’s Questions, left Theresa May further weakened as she desperately seeks to persuade Brussels to end the deadlock over Brexit talks.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen during Wednesday's press conference
PA

PMQs 20.02.19

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Ms Soubry hoped the resignations would “give courage” to ministers to persuade them to act next week to block a “no deal” departure.

Arguing that Mrs May had been captured by Tory hardliners, she said she would not stay in the party to “skirmish on the margins when the truth is the battle is over and the other side has won”.

“The Right wing, the hardline anti-EU awkward squad that have destroyed every leader for the last 40 years are now running the Conservative Party from top to toe. They are the Conservative Party,” she claimed.

The Broxtowe MP urged “fellow one nation Conservatives” and “like-minded Lib Dems” to “please, come and join us” by breaking away from their parties.

Ms Allen described the Tory trio as the “three amigos” who had joined the “magnificent seven” ex-Labour MPs who launched The Independent Group on Monday and the “lone ranger”, ex-Labour MP Joan Ryan, who joined them last night.

The South Cambridgeshire MP said she believed “a significant number” of Conservative MPs were considering joining them.

The three MPs struck a far more upbeat note at their press conference, on their switch to independents, than the ex-Labour MPs who publicly expressed more sorrow at leaving their party.

However, there were immediately clear signs of different views on policy in the group.

Ms Allen, a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, made clear she was also opposed to the Government’s stance on welfare.

“I can no longer represent a Government and a party who can’t open their eyes to the suffering endured by the most vulnerable in society, suffering which we have deepened whilst having the power to fix,” she said.

Totnes MP Dr Wollaston, who chairs the Commons Health Committee, said: “I am afraid the Prime Minister simply hasn’t delivered on the pledge she made on the steps of Downing Street to tackle the burning injustices in our society.

“I think that what we now see is the party, that was once the most trusted on the economy and business, is now marching us to the cliff-edge of a no-deal Brexit.”

Mrs May said she was “saddened” by the decision but insisted that “we are doing the right thing for our country” by delivering Brexit.

She added: “I am determined that under my leadership the Conservative Party will always offer the decent, moderate and patriotic politics that the people of this country deserve.”

A Downing Street spokesman said the three MPs’ Conservative associations were now free to select new General Glection candidates.

He said he was not in a position to rule out their return to the party after Brexit.

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