Boris Johnson has been urged by Cabinet allies to ask Brussels for a Brexit extension rather than disobey the law and risk a Jeremy Corbyn government.

A Cabinet minister told the Telegraph Mr Johnson - who has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for a delay - should back down and follow Parliament's instruction to ask for a three-month extension if he cannot agree a deal.

"The Government does not break the law," the minister said.

The Prime Minister has staked his premiership on getting Britain out of the EU on Oct 31 "do or die" whether or not he can broker a new deal.

The comments from the minister, a Brexiteer, are the first sign of a Cabinet split over Mr Johnson's insistence that MPs cannot stop him taking Britain out of the EU without a deal.