Nigel Farage is plotting to steal Tories for his new Brexit Party if there is a delay on leaving the EU, it was claimed on Friday.

Catherine Blaiklock - a former UKIP candidate who is heading the party - threatened they would scalp senior Tories if the Westminster deadlock rumbles on.

Mr Farage formed his Brexit Party to hang like a sword of Damocles over Theresa May, only 'kicking in' if she failed to leave the EU by March 29.

The party - which officially launched earlier this month - said they would launch hundreds of candidates if the PM failed to deliver.

Former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage listens to a speaker during a conference on Brexit, at the Saatchi Gallery in London last week

Catherine Blaiklock claims the Brexit Party could be joined by 'well known names' - two such pro-Brexit senior MPs could be Jacob Rees-Mogg (left) and Boris Johnson (right)

Ms Blaiklock told the Express that Mrs May's movements over the next week would be crucial: 'There are MEPs who’d like to have a look-in, there are all sorts of business people and people who are new to politics. The list is going to be very competitive.'

Ms Blaiklock said that she was 'talking about people who are at the heart of the Conservative party. People who are well known names.'

The party leader said that if there were European elections 'we will go full blast into them.

She said their list of candidates was already way over the 200 that had been reported.

Mr Farage formed the new group after he was left politically homeless, withdrawing from the UKIP party as the new leadership courted the far-right.

He boasted of a huge appetite for his pro-Brexit party, claiming more than 15,000 had registered to join on the day of its formation.

Ms Blaiklock claimed those numbers had now soared to over 150,000 and donations were pouring in from far and wide.

Catherine Blaiklock, a former UKIP candidate, has been taken up the role as leader of Mr Farage's new party

Amber Rudd (pictured walking through Downing Street last week), Greg Clark and David Gauke warned the ERG were the ones who could delay Brexit

Last week Mr Farage was able to secure the backing of a number of former UKIP darlings, including Paul Nuttal, Bill Etheridge and Julia Reid.

Mrs May's grasp on the party remains precariously balanced between the softer Brexit Delivery Group (BDG) and the more hard-line European Research Group (ERG).

Last week she lost three MPs - Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston - to the new Independent Group of Remainer MPs.

Downing Street has also reportedly faced threats from ministers of mass walk outs if she perseveres on a course which could see the UK leaving on 'no deal.'

A trio of pro-EU Cabinet ministers issued a blunt warning to Tory Brexiteers in the Daily Mail saying that no-deal would be 'disastrous.'

Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke said the Brexiteers in the ERG will only have themselves to blame if Britain's departure from the EU is delayed.

One of the ex-Conservative MPs, Heidi Allen, told the Independent news website that they had agreed they would not do anything which might 'facilitate' a general election.

Asked what they would do in the instance of a no-confidence vote in the Government brought by the opposition, she said: 'This is all such a jigsaw, it is very hard to game plan.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker meets with Prime Minister Theresa May in Brussels on Wednesday

'But what we have definitely agreed is that anything that would facilitate a general election we wouldn't support.'

Mrs May will attend the two-day EU-League of Arab States summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh starting on Sunday.

She is expected to take the opportunity to hold one-to-one meetings in the margins of the main conference with key EU figures including European Council president Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish premier Leo Varadkar.

No 10 has played down the prospect of a breakthrough, and there is speculation that Mrs May will say she intends to come back to the House again in two weeks time when she addresses MPs on Tuesday.