UKIP supporters and Brexit-backers are being urged to join the Conservatives to vote for Jacob Rees-Mogg to be leader if Theresa May is ousted.

Senior ministers have expressed worried that if the PM is forced out, it could pave the way for the popular backbencher Brexiteer to come into power.

5 Leave.EU campaign group is urging its supporters to get behind Jacob Rees-Mogg

Former Ukip donor Arron Banks and Brexit campaigning group Leave.EU are pushing pro-Mogg messages online to help the cause.

Their Facebook and Twitter accounts regularly praise "hero" Jacob and say that a real Brexiteer needs to be in charge of the country.

Mr Banks said last month: "Maybe by flooding back into the Conservative party we can change the course of history again. With a leadership challenge on the cards once more, this may be the perfect time."

He also said that Ukip are "already ripped to shreds" and he hoped Mr Mogg "wins the leadership".

5 It is using its Facebook account to promote pro-Mogg messages

5 Mr Rees Mogg has topped party member polls of who should be the next Prime Minister

You have a pretty good local MP, let's hope he wins the leadership https://t.co/YpTRVLJTJe — Arron Banks (@Arron_banks) February 3, 2018

UKIP already ripped to pieces & regretably the interval squabble makes no difference now. https://t.co/m5RHcALurm — Arron Banks (@Arron_banks) February 4, 2018

Leave.EU's Facebook account has more than 800,000 likes, and its Twitter account 156,000 followers, which help to push the messages to a wider audience.

And a grassroots campaign movement to get the Somerset MP into No10 has racked up 21,000 followers already in just a few months.

A senior minister told the Express they were concerned at that popularity of the eccentric backbencher, who recently become leader of the influential European Research Group.

They said: “We are determined to keep the Prime Minister in place at least until Brexit is negotiated.

"As things stand colleagues are afraid that we would have a Prime Minister Rees-Mogg if there is an election before.”

Last week Mr Rees-Mogg cemented his popularity among Tory members by winning a poll of who should be the next PM.

Another minister added: “If he got to the last two I am sure Jacob would win. The members adore him.

"His main problem is that he probably does not have enough support in the parliamentary party to get that far."

A former Ukip parliamentary candidate also told the paper: "It is certainly an attractive idea. With the Tories in the state they are and only around 70,000 members we could help make sure Jacob wins and Britain has a real Brexit Prime Minister."

Remaining loyal to UKIP and advising people not to jump ship to the Conservatives is a very steong point of mine ! — Bill Etheridge (@BillEtheridgeuk) February 4, 2018

5 Last weekend it was reported that a Brexit dream team could be set up if the PM is forced out of No10

Well that's the signal for UKIP members and voters to jump ship and join (or re-join) the Conservatives. For that matter, 'why doesn't Nigel Farage 're-rat', as Churchill once did?' He and Jacob Rees-Mogg would make the most successful double act since Morecambe and Wise. — Dave Miller All Lives Matter Woke is a Joke (@Sandancer60) February 3, 2018

I get where @Arron_banks is coming from, all Hard brexiteers @UKIP @UKLabour join £25 "lend" their vote to the @Conservatives and in the Autumn when @theresa_may gets the boot! Vote in Hard Brexit Leader & Cabinet. P.S. must join 3mths before she gets sacked https://t.co/5QntoyZDgf — KC (@KC05918589) January 30, 2018

Ukip, meanwhile, are averaging around 2 per cent in the polls, and are still trying to boot out their leader Henry Bolton, after he left his wife and kids for a model of 25, Jo Marney, who was revealed to have sent racist messages about Meghan Markle.

Ukip MEP Bill Etheridge admitted on Facebook that he was having to advise people "not to jump ship" from the party.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who last week was attacked by lefties when he gave a university speech, has denied he wants to be Prime Minister, but has in recently weeks come out fighting against Remainer Philip Hammond's approach to Brexit.

And he said in an interview last month that former Kippers should jump ship and come to the Tories to "deliver on Brexit".

He told TalkRadio: "My message to Ukip members is :join the Conservative party."

Last weekend it was revealed that Boris Johnson had been approached about creating a potential 'Brexit dream team' involving himself, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg, in the event that the Prime Minister is toppled.

Under the plan Boris would become Prime Minister, with Rees-Mogg as Chancellor.

Cabinet ministers, meanwhile, are bickering about whether Britain should stay in a customs union after we leave the EU.

5 Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he doesn't want to be Prime Minister Credit: Adrian Sherratt

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Anyone wishing to vote in a leadership contest has to have been a member of the Tories for at least three months - so preparations are underway to drum up support for Mr Mogg.

Speculation has been mounting that the Tory chairman of the 1922 Committee has almost received the 48 letters of no confidence needed to spark a leadership contest.

One minister is even considering quitting in frustration at her leadership, The Sun revealed.