Labour, Lib Dem, and Greens have colluded to draw up a hit list of Leave supporting MPs in Remain supporting constituencies to “go after” and attempt to depose at the next election.
The aggressive “Remain decapitation strategy”, reported by The Times, would see the three anti-Brexit parties informally agree which party would “have a run” at individual pro-Brexit MPs.
“There are Leave MPs in heavily Remain areas who are sitting ducks and need taking to task by pro-Europeans,” a Remain campaigner told the paper. “It will be done on a seat-by-seat basis depending on whether the Lib Dems or Labour have the best run at it.
“This won’t be done between [Tim] Farron and [Jeremy] Corbyn, but each local party will decide the best way to punish these people for what they have done. That’s going to require ruthless targeting and co-ordination.”
Earlier this week, former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg urge anti-Brexit MPs to work together in “defining our enemy” but stopped short of calling for a new anti-Brexit political party.
“I would welcome and embrace more thinking and writing and talking and speaking amongst liberal Conservatives, one-nation Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, centre-ground Labour folk who want to mount a proper ideological response to that,” he told The Guardian.
The hit list is said to include Theresa Villiers, the former cabinet minister, and Dominic Raab, a former justice minister. In total, there are around 30 pro-Brexit MPs at odds with their constituencies on Brexit.
These include Conservative Party members Victoria Borwick (Kensington, 69 per cent Remain), David Burrowes (Enfield Southgate, 63 per cent), Anne Main (St. Albans, 62 per cent), Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West, 61.5 per cent), Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden, 61 per cent), and Matthew Offord (Hendon, 58 per cent).
There were also 10 pro-Leave Labour MPs that could be targeted, including Kate Hoey (Vauxhall, 78 per cent Remain) and John Cryer (Leyton and Wansted, 65 per cent).