Anna Soubry says her staff have received threatening tweets after she was among 15 Conservatives pictured in provocative splash

Conservative Brexit rebels have attacked rightwing papers for trying to bully them into silence as the government’s EU withdrawal bill continued its passage through parliament.

Anna Soubry blamed the Daily Telegraph front page depicting her as a “Brexit mutineer” for a series of threatening tweets her staff have reported to police; while Nicky Morgan blasted the Daily Mail for contacting potential rebels’ local parties and asking how they represent constituents.

Soubry, the MP for Broxtowe and an outspoken critic of the EU withdrawal bill, told the House of Commons on Wednesday: “According to my office, they have just reported about five, if not more, tweets to the police issuing threats against myself following the front-page article in Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph.”

She asked the Speaker, John Bercow, to “make it very clear to everybody, in whatever capacity, that they have an absolute duty to report responsibly and make sure they use language that brings our country together and makes sure that we have a democracy that welcomes free speech and an attitude of tolerance”.

Morgan used the hashtag #AntiBullyingWeek in a tweet describing the Daily Mail’s approach to the story. She claimed the paper had been ringing rebel MPs’ constituencies, “entirely missing the point that we were all elected or re-elected just five months ago”.

Nicky Morgan MP (@NickyMorgan01) So the Daily Mail is now calling round our constituencies & local parties asking how we represent our constituents - of course not interested when response is supportive & entirely missing the point that we were all elected or re-elected just 5 months ago #AntiBullyingWeek pic.twitter.com/dOtxsHDHJ0

The two former ministers’ concerns illustrated the strong emotions on display as the withdrawal bill makes its way through parliament.

In the second eight-hour day of debate on the complex bill on Wednesday, the government avoided any defeats; but its majority on one amendment, seeking to secure workers’ rights and environmental standards after Brexit, was just 12.

That suggests the government may struggle to see off more contentious amendments due to be discussed later in the bill’s progress. The leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom, will set out on Thursday when the bill will next be debated.

Soubry said her office had deemed several tweets to be particularly threatening since the Telegraph article: one called for her and other Brexit mutineers to be hung drawn and quartered; another said she deserved a similar fate to the murdered MP Jo Cox. Her office said she had also received an email saying she should kill herself, and a Facebook message saying something similar.



Bercow praised Britain’s free press, but said any threats to Soubry and her colleagues were “repugnant” and “doomed to fail”.

The Daily Telegraph front page, vilifying 15 Conservative MPs as a band of “Brexit mutineers”, had already led to the newspaper being accused of bullying, while rebels claimed the description as a badge of honour.

The MPs – who had all indicated they would vote against Theresa May’s efforts to fix the date of Brexit for 29 March 2019 – are pictured smiling on the paper’s front page.

However, government ministers were quick to disavow the front page, insisting that they did not want their party to be divided by the media and that they were working constructively with those Tories seeking improvements to the EU withdrawal bill.

Alistair Burt, a Foreign Office minister, tweeted: “Fabulous collection of some of the best MPs in the country. How small the Telegraph appears in comparison.”

A third Tory MP, Heidi Allen, who was also among the 15, said: “If fighting for the best possible future for our country and our government is considered mutiny – then bring it on.”

Heidi Allen (@heidiallen75) If fighting for the best possible future for our country and our government is considered mutiny - then bring it on. pic.twitter.com/fTvOXqwhF5

The MPs later won support from Labour colleagues fighting against a hard Brexit, with Chuka Umunna, a former shadow cabinet minister, saying the front page was “an ideological witch-hunt to bully Tory MPs to go against their instincts to do what they think best for our country”.

His colleague Jess Phillips said of Soubry,: “I think it is disgraceful that she or anyone receives threats for expressing completely legitimate political opinions. Anna will I’m certain not be put off from doing what she thinks is best for our country by threats made by cowards – she is braver than them.”



Leading Brexiters also viewed the article as unhelpful. Steve Baker, a minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, said: “I regret any media attempts to divide our party. My parliamentary colleagues have sincere suggestions to improve the bill which we are working through and I respect them for that.”

Wednesday’s debate saw the first intervention from the backbenches from Priti Patel, since she resigned as international development secretary last week.

Patel used her intervention to criticise pessimists about Brexit. “There are members tabling amendments, and rightly so. But I don’t think we should listen to, really, those that simply do not have the confidence in this House, in our democracy and also in our country going forward, along with the suggestions that we are incapable of governing ourselves. Fundamentally, we should be rejecting that.”