Theresa May must tell the Chancellor to change course on Brexit or be sacked, the MPs propping up her Government have warned.

Senior DUP parliamentary sources told the Telegraph they were "deeply concerned about Philip Hammond's behaviour" following a string of episodes that could suggest he was "trying to frustrate the negotiating process".

The extraordinary intervention will add significant pressure to the Prime Minister amid growing calls from within her own ranks to replace the Chancellor over his apparent reluctance to spend money on preparations for no deal with Brussels.

On Saturday Michael Gove, the Brexit-supporting Environment Secretary, was being touted as a possible successor to take the helm at the Treasury and oversee next month's budget.

The intervention came as:

A string of Conservative grandees called for Mr Hammond to be sacked, with one prominent former minister telling this newspaper that he "deserves to be kicked not only out of the Cabinet but all the way down Whitehall." Another senior figure called for an equivalent to Margaret Thatcher's "1981 moment" when she strengthened her position by sacking or demoting a series of cabinet ministers.

In an article for the Telegraph, David Jones, a former Brexit minister, calls on Mrs May to this week put the EU on notice that if it fails to "very soon" engage in trade discussions, the UK will suspend further negotiations - a position understood to be supported by DUP MPs - Emmanuel Macron, the French president, risked causing further antagonism with an apparent claim in a German newspaper interview that the EU has been held back by countries such as Britain that "hate Europe and want to give up on it"

Insiders revealed that one source of tension between the Prime Minister and her Chancellor was over Mrs May's conference announcement of a price cap on energy bills - a policy about which Mr Hammond is understood to have raised ideological concerns .

This week the leaders of the 27 remaining EU member will meet for talks following the fifth round of negotiations with Britain last week.