Following the passing of the Brady amendment in January, the Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox QC, is currently engaged in talks with the EU in search of a legal change that will ensure the Northern Ireland backstop cannot endure indefinitely – what some have termed ‘Cox’s codpiece’.

And the fate of the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal – when it is put to another meaningful vote within the next fortnight – is likely to hinge on whether what he brings back from Brussels cuts the mustard with Brexiteers on the government backbenches.

So I can reveal today that as they await a breakthrough in the talks, Tory eurosceptics have assembled a panel of eight lawyers – seven of whom are serving MPs – to examine forensically whatever proposal is forthcoming and judge whether it makes the deal acceptable.

They are:

Sir Bill Cash – Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee whose knowledge of constitutional law has been oft-shared in the Commons during his 35 years in Parliament

Dominic Raab – Former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union who resigned to oppose the Brexit deal as currently drafted and whose legal career included time advising on EU law both as a solicitor with Linklaters and at the Foreign Office

Nigel Dodds – DUP Deputy Leader and the party’s Westminster Leader who was a prize-winning Law student at Cambridge who was then called to the Bar of Northern Ireland

David Jones – Former Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union and Secretary of State for Wales who worked as a solicitor for more than a quarter of a century before entering politics

Suella Braverman – Ex-Chair of the European Research Group and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union who resigned to oppose the Brexit deal as currently drafted, she practised as a barrister for a decade before becoming an MP and holds a Masters Degree in European Law

Michael Tomlinson – Former Deputy Chairman of the European Research Group who was a barrister prior to entering Parliament

Robert Courts – European Research Group supporter who was also a barrister prior to entering Parliament

Martin Howe QC – Chair of lawyers for Britain and the only non-MP of the octet, he was called to the Bar in 1978 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996 and is arguably the most prominent eurosceptic barrister, having amassed an immense knowledge of EU law during his legal career

The inclusion of Dodds in the group is especially significant, since an acceptance of any change to the deal from the Government’s confidence and supply partners in the DUP would likely pile pressure on Tory backbench Brexiteers to follow suit.

A source close to the group explains to me: “Tory MPs from the European Research Group may have vehemently voted down the Prime Minister’s deal, but they are equally keen to back a deal if the necessary changes are forthcoming to make it acceptable. This is a serious group of respected legal and political minds who will be as well equipped as anyone to make the judgement as to whether whatever Geoffrey Cox negotiates merits their support.”