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Boris Johnson broke cover today, refusing to deny he’ll challenge Theresa May for the Tory leadership if she won’t budge on her Brexit plan.

In his first appearance in the Commons since he was linked to ex-Tory aide Carrie Symonds, he called on Mrs May to scrap her Chequers plan.

He said the Prime Minister’s proposed deal would be “substantially worse than the status quo” - urging her to roll back to the original plan laid out at Lancaster House.

The former Foreign Secretary was a surprise guest as a raft of Tory hard Brexiteers launched their blueprint for crash Britain out of the EU without a deal.

A new report by Economists for Free Trade (EFT), published today is backed by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who chairs the 60-strong European Research Group of Tory Brexiteer MPs.

(Image: Getty Images Europe) (Image: Getty Images Europe)

It claims Britain will be a trillion pounds better off in 15 years if we leave on World Trade Organisation rules, and seeks to dispel ‘project fear’ warnings about a no-deal Brexit, rebranding it a “Free Trade Deal”.

The group’s convenor, Texas businessman Edgar Miller, said there had been “widespread ignorance” about what leaving the EU on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules would entail.

Johnson sat front and centre in the audience for the bustling launch, along with former Brexit Secretary David Davis, ex-Welfare chief Iain Duncan Smith and a host of senior Brexiteers.

He shrugged off questions of whether he would throw his hat in the ring if there were a Tory leadership contest.

But he urged the Prime Minister to roll back her Brexit plan.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

He said: “There is a very clear alternative to the Chequers vision and it was laid out by the Prime Minister at Lancaster House on January 17th.

“If only we had stuck to that we would be in a much better position.”

But Mr Rees-Mogg confirmed he planned to vote against Mrs May’s Chequers deal if it ever reaches the House of Commons.

And former Brexit minister Steve Baker claimed there were “almost 80” more Tory MPs who would follow suit.

Jacob Rees-Mogg accepted people might ask why the economic forecast in the report was right, when he had repeatedly said economic forecasts are always wrong.

But argued said it was not about accuracy, but about “direction.”

“What I’m saying is not that you should accept every detail of this forecast, not that it will be precise, not that in 15 years time it will be £1.1 trillion that we’ve made when you add it all together.

“But it will be in that direction, and that’s what we need to know. We believe the forecasts because on the history, [EFT economists] Roger Bootle and Patrick Minford have got it right and the Treasury has got it wrong.”

He claimed the sticky Northern Ireland border issue can be resolved easily if ministers “eliminate the negatives” and stop being “fearful of leaving.”

Invoking President John F Kennedy, Mogg said: “Basically, the message is we have nothing to fear except fear itself.”

Slapping down the Brexiteers’ blueprint, the Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted: “Chequers is the only credible, negotiable plan which both delivers on the will of the British people and prevents the imposition of a hard border in Northern Ireland, and we are hopeful that all MPS will be able to support that.”

Mrs May will update the 27 EU chiefs on the proposal when they meet in Salzburg next week.

She told today's Cabinet meeting she “expected EU leaders to take stock of the progress we have made in the negotiations on both the withdrawal and the future relationship”, her spokesman said

He added that “building on the constructive engagement over the summer, she would underline the importance to both parties of the UK remaining the EU’s closest ally”.

Top minsters meet again on Thursday for three hours to thrash out contingency plans for a no-deal exit.

Brexiteers groaned at the launch amid a raft of questions about whether their movement would spark a challenge to Theresa May.

Former Brexit minister Steve Baker insisted: “Isn’t the future of this country about more than personalities? I personally do not really mind who the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is so long as they do good old fashioned liberal things that I agree with.”