Tory MPs threaten Theresa May with leadership challenge as Brexiteer backlash over cabinet plan intensifies

Prime minister warned her 'capitulation' could see her ousted, with Brexiteers suggesting Jacob Rees-Mogg as a replacement

Theresa May is facing the threat of a leadership contest amid mounting anger from Brexiteers over her government's Brexit policy.

Anti-EU Tories attacked a plan agreed by the cabinet at Chequers on Friday, with many believed to be ready to submit the letters needed to trigger a contest.

Eurosceptics are reported to be circulating a draft statement calling for Ms May to go, and some have publicly backed Jacob Rees-Mogg as her replacement.

As the fallout continued, it was also claimed that Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, had described the proposals agreed at Chequers as "a big turd" and said supporting them amounted to "polishing a turd" - before agreeing to back them.

Ms May is likely to face an angry backlash when she addresses the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs on Monday. Brexiteers believe the government's strategy breaks the prime minister's promises to remove the UK from the EU single market and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

They are said to have drafted a letter accusing her of "complete capitulation" and claiming her previous promises were "a pretence and a charade intended to dupe the electorate".

The letter is said to conclude: "In the interests of our country and the future of Conservative Party, I feel the time has come for a new leader."

One anti-EU MP, Andrew Bridgen, suggested Mr Rees-Mogg should take over from Ms May, saying Brexiteers would not support cabinet ministers who had backed the Chequers plan.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said: "All those harbouring leadership hopes have done their ambitions fatal harm.

"Grassroots party members will have no truck with their perceived treachery."

He added: "Some will try to keep their leadership hopes alive by claiming it was not the time to quit and they had a duty to stay on to ensure Brexit is not further watered down.

"But it leaves only one credible contender with the integrity and backbone to follow Mrs May: Jacob Rees-Mogg."

Mr Bridgen specifically attacked Boris Johnson, saying: "We needed Boris to emulate his hero Churchill. Instead he gave us a modern-day version of Neville Chamberlain."

Another leading Eurosceptic, Sir Bill Cash, told Sky News he had not submitted a letter calling for a leadership contest but warned: "If people were to decide to put in those letters, you only need 48."

However, Ms May dismissed talk of a leadership challenge, telling the Sunday Times: "The only challenge that needs to be made now is to the European Union to get serious about this, to come round the table and discuss it with us."

She called on EU leaders to engage with her proposals and drop their "rigid approach".

And she promised Brexit voters: "I won't let you down."

The prime minister was backed by a number of her ministers, including Philip Hammond, the Remain-supporting chancellor, and Chris Grayling, the Eurosceptic transport secretary, who used a joint article in the Sunday Telegraph to praise the Chequers deal.

They wrote: "What was agreed at Chequers on Friday night is a pragmatic as well as a principled Brexit deal, one that works for both the EU and the UK."

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And environment secretary Michael Gove, whose support for the plan was said to be key to convincing other Brexiteers to step into line, urged Tory MPs to get behind the prime minister.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: ""All those of us who believe that we want to execute a proper Brexit, and one that is the best deal for Britain, have an opportunity now to get behind the Prime Minister in order to negotiate that deal."

But in a sign of rising anger among Eurosceptics, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith suggested the Chequers agreement could cost the Tories the next general election.

Arguing that Ms May has previously promised to remove the UK from the single market and customs union, he said: "If the public perceive that not to be delivered then the government, I'm afraid, will suffer the consequences at the next election."