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Tory veteran Ken Clarke has warned he'd BRING DOWN Boris Johnson with a no confidence vote in his government.

The arch-Europhile former Chancellor said he will break ranks and vote to trigger an election if the new PM is heading for a No Deal Brexit .

It comes hours after another top Tory, Tobias Ellwood, warned 12 Conservatives could vote no-confidence rather than face No Deal.

The threats pile pressure on Boris Johnson , who will inherit a working Commons majority of just four if he takes power in July.

The runaway favourite for Prime Minister said today the UK "must leave the EU on October 31 come what may."

That has raised speculation he will crash out with No Deal on Halloween . But he's failed to give a cast-iron guarantee he will and Tory MPs will be demanding he waters down his position.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: PA)

Mr Clarke, the longest-serving MP in the Commons, said today Mr Johnson was spouting inaccuracies about Brexit by claiming there can be a transition period in No Deal.

Branding Mr Johnson's approach "very alarming", he said: "That should be tested properly and he should be made to go away and do a bit of homework.

"Most other people interested in politics have got further along the road of discovering what Brexit might or might not mean than Boris appears to have done."

Asked if he was prepared to back a no confidence vote, Mr Clarke said: "If it's heading for a no deal simply because the government's [not got round] to doing anything then yes I think I would."

He added: "It might trigger an election, it might trigger a change of government, without an election under the law we now have."

(Image: Getty Images)

Under the current rules a general election is triggered automatically 14 days after the government loses a no confidence vote.

However, if the government regains confidence in a second vote in that time - for instance by changing PM - an election is averted.

Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4's The World At One: "It depends on the circumstances at the time, and what whoever is Prime Minister is putting forward as the policy he is going to pursue.

"But I am not going to vote in favour of a government that says it's going to pursue policies which are totally incompatible with everything the Conservative Party has stood for... for decades."