Theresa May survived a serious threat this evening when an amendment to the government’s trade bill was defeated by 307 votes to 301. The amendment, tabled by Tory remainers livid at May’s humiliating capitulation yesterday to her ‘Brextremist’ back-benchers, would have forced the government to default to membership of the EU’s customs union if it proved unable to negotiate a better agreement with the EU.

May was able to win the vote because four Labour MPs broke ranks to vote against the amendment. According to Labour sources this evening, those MPs were John Mann, Graham Stringer, Kate Hoey and Frank Field.

A Labour source told the SKWAWKBOX:

If [May] had lost that vote, her extreme-Brexit faction would have been out for her scalp. In a week of absolute chaos for the Tories, those four votes just saved Theresa May – and quite possibly her government.

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