Treasury Parliamentary Private Secretary Scott Mann has handed his resignation in protest over the so-called “Chequers Deal”.
Mann becomes the ninth MP to hand in his resignation in eight days after David Davis and Boris Johnson led the way last week. (10 MPs if you include May ally Andrew Griffiths resigning over filthy texts to constituents.)
Robert Courts, who represents David Cameron’s former seat of Witney in Oxfordshire, announced he will also walk away in a Tweet sent out yesterday.
The raft of resignations leaves Prime Minster May with a significant Brexit headache, with many ministers warning that a split may be on the way.
Last night the Tory MP who replaced David Cameron as MP for Witney, Robert Courts quit as a ministerial aide in what is being seen as a choreographed set of resignations.
Hard Brexit Tories had threatened to resign at the rate of one a day to derail Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit compromise, and in the 10 days since her White Paper deal was hailed as finally bringing her warring party together on Brexit, 10 Tory MPs have resigned.
Theresa May who has warned her mutinous MPs that if they do not accept her Brexit White Paper they risk having no Brexit at all, has a working majority of just 13.
But so far these nine MPs have resigned their ministerial and ministerial adviser posts announcing that they cannot support her Brexit:
David Davis
Steve Baker
Ben Bradley
Maria Caulfield
Boris Johnson
Chris Green
Conor Burns
Robert Courts
Scott Mann
Plus Andrew Griffiths, a key ally and former chief of staff for Theresa May resigned this weekend over inappropriate sexual texts to constituents, making 10 government resignations in just 8 days.
The minister for small business, Andrew Griffiths resigned from government after sending text messages of a sexual nature to two female constituents.
In his resignation letter, Scott Mann wrote: “I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents.
“I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered down Brexit”.
The North Cornwall MP had campaigned to leave the EU before the referendum and in no analogy whatsoever is otherwise notable for being rescued from the sea by a Conservative colleague after he jumped in, too embarrassed to admit that he did not know how to swim.
