Tag: Guto Bebb

Like the rest of the country, the 2016 EU referendum divided MPs into two tribes - Leave and Remain. MPs are described as rebels one day, for voting against their party leadership, only to become loyalists the next day and vice versa. But for now, here is a guide to the main factions in the Commons: Theresa May loyalists Government ministers, basically - there are just over 100 them out of a total of 316 Tory MPs - and those backbenchers who support Theresa May's Brexit policies, or at least are not willing to vote against them and threaten her leadership. Most Tory MPs fall into this category but it is not enough for Mrs May to be sure of winning key Commons votes, even with the support of the DUP's MPs, who unlike Mrs May backed Leave in the EU referendum. At-a-glance: The UK's four Brexit options Tory hard Brexiteers Sixty Conservative MPs, headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg, are members of the European Research Group - a pro-Brexit lobby, who are against Theresa May's plans for trading arrangements with the EU. Mr Grieve has said he will quit the party if Boris Johnson becomes prime minister, in reaction to a row over the former foreign secretary's comments about the burka. Government survives key Brexit trade vote Cross-party crusaders Conservative MP Anna Soubry, a close ally of Labour's Chuka Umunna in the People's Vote campaign for another EU referendum (see below), has called in the past for the creation of a new centre-ground party. Tory second referendum group Former Education Secretary Justine Greening is the most senior Conservative to have called for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. No 10 rejects Greening's referendum call The Corbynites Loyalty is highly prized by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - hardly surprising given the number of his own MPs who have tried to oust him - and many of the new intake of Labour MPs, as well as his inner circle, are fully behind his Brexit stance. This is the core of a group who say they are standing up for the millions of Labour supporters who voted to Leave the EU.