David Davis has been stripped of his most hardline Brexit minister in the latest sign that Theresa May is planning to soften the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union.

David Jones, a minister of state in the Department for Exiting the EU, was sacked as by Mrs May, who failed to tell the Brexit minister about her plans.

He was replaced by Baroness Anelay, who is thought to have supported the Remain campaign before last year’s EU referendum.

That came another of his ministers Lord Bridges resigned at the weekend.

The peer was replaced by Steve Baker MP, a key player in the Vote Leave campaign and prominent Eurosceptic MP.

The changes mean that the Government’s Brexit department has lost two of its four ministers just days before talks are due to start on Monday.

The decision was apparently a surprise to Mr Davis, the Exiting the EU secretary who only found out when he was informed by Mr Jones on Monday evening.

One source said: “David Davis knew nothing about it [when] David Jones rang him. He was absolutely stunned. He said: ‘I have lost half my ministerial team’.”

One source questioned why Mrs May had dispensed with half of her team of ministers who were overseeing the Brexit talks just days before the formal start of negotiations on Monday.