Show caption Theresa May will report to MPs on Monday about last week’s European council meeting at which leaders commented on indecision and divisions in London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Brexit May’s cabinet still squabbling as Chequers Brexit meeting looms Ministers will meet on Friday to discuss the UK’s future relationship with the EU Heather Stewart Political editor Mon 2 Jul 2018 07.16 BST Share on Facebook

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Theresa May’s squabbling cabinet have abandoned all pretence of unity ahead of Friday’s crunch meeting at Chequers, with the housing minister, James Brokenshire, conceding there are strong views on either side.

Ministers will gather for a day-long discussion at the prime minister’s country retreat to thrash out what they believe should be Britain’s future relationship with the EU27.

With hopes fading of a bespoke agreement, senior government sources say ministers are broadly being asked to choose between an intimate, Norway-style partnership and a much looser, Canada-style trade deal.

Brokenshire told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show the government was determined to reach a clear resolution this week – and the outcome would be published in the promised white paper.

“I think there’s no doubt that there are strong views on either side, and that’s what I would expect as we lead into the discussions on Friday. But equally I remain confident that we will come out from that meeting with that clear direction set out, the white paper that will follow,” he said.

Another cabinet minister told the Guardian: “The white paper precipitates a need for resolution. As do circumstances. We need either to stand up to the EU or make nice to them. There’s no middle way.”

However, allies of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, denied they were poised to resign if they lost Friday’s debate.

A friend of Johnson’s said: “He’s not going anywhere: he’s always been of the view that he has more influence in the room.”

Davis, who has long favoured what he calls a “Canada plus plus plus” approach – echoing Ottawa’s trade deal with the EU but covering services – has held a series of meetings with May in recent days.

Government sources played down reports that Michael Gove had torn up a report on the prime minister’s favoured customs plan, saying the environment secretary had only ripped up one page because he objected to the way it was drafted.

May will report back to MPs on Monday about last week’s European council meeting, at which leaders made a series of comments about indecision and divisions in London.

The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said: “I don’t have to lecture Theresa May, but I would like our British friends to make clear their position. We cannot go on to live with a split cabinet. They have to say what they want and we will respond to that.”

Cabinet tensions have mounted in recent days, with collective responsibility all but dissolving, amid widespread speculation that several leading members are burnishing their credentials for a potential leadership bid should May be forced out.

Last week alone, Greg Clark hit back at anti-business comments by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and Johnson, Gavin Williamson ratcheted up his well-briefed standoff with the prime minister over defence spending and the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, publicly ridiculed Gove for his heavy-handed approach to regulation.

Clark, who has become one of the most vocal advocates for continuing with the closest possible relationship with the EU, stressed the need for unity on Sunday, saying: “I think the collective responsibility that we have is there for a reason.”

But asked what he thought about Hunt’s criticism of Airbus for intervening in the Brexit debate, and Johnson’s “fuck business” remarks, the business secretary said: “I very strongly disagree with those statements.”

May’s close ally, the former cabinet minister Damian Green, used an article in the Mail on Sunday to hit out at squabbling colleagues, saying some were not “officer class”.

“We have seen threats against her, attacks on business, and cabinet ministers taking the proverbial out of each other’s policies. All of this in full public gaze. It has been an unedifying spectacle of oversized egos showing they are not fit to be officers,” Green said.

Meanwhile, Clark alarmed some Brexiters by suggesting the transition period set to begin in March next year could be extended to allow businesses more time to prepare.

He said the infrastructure needed to avoid friction at the borders between the UK and the EU might not be ready by December 2020, when the transition period is due to end.

“There are things that would need to be put in place: computer systems, for example; posts at the border, even if they are checked automatically,” Clark said, speaking at the port of Dover.

“What we need to assess is how long it would reasonably take to put in practice, and it seems to me that any reasonable person would have to be guided by the facts and the evidence.”