THE chair of the European Research Group, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said it is “not impossible” that Mrs May might change her mind and resign.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “You may remember that Margaret Thatcher… said ‘We fight on, we fight to win’. Nobody was tougher than Mrs Thatcher, and the next day she resigned. So it’s not impossible.
“I think Theresa May should consider what she said last night. I agree with her that we do want somebody who can unite the country and the Conservative Party and she has to ask herself is she realistically that person?”
Mr Rees-Mogg rejected suggestions the ERG’s headquarters for Wednesday’s vote was nicknamed “the kill zone”, saying: “It wasn’t referred to as that by me, I think it was only referred to as that by our opponents.
“I think it’s a deeply disagreeable term invented by people who wanted to support the Prime Minister. I never heard anybody refer to it as that, I would not have dreamt of referring to it as that. I think it’s deeply silly to have done so, and I don’t think it came from us, it came from others.”
Asked about Mr Hammond’s comments that “extremists” would be flushed out, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “I wouldn’t worry too much about Treasury forecasts. They’ve got a record of being hopelessly inaccurate and politically biased, and that was another example of that.
“Don’t take the Chancellor too seriously when he gets a little bit over-excited – an unusual state for him, it has to be said.”
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