In the early months of Britain’s post-referendum euphoria, Brexit cheerleaders were happy to play hardball with Brussels, assuming they had the upper hand in the divorce. Even during a contentious meeting of the European Parliament in April of last year, when the governing body voted overwhelmingly to take an aggressive position on Brexit, Nigel Farage was cocksure verging on suicidal. “You are behaving like the Mafia,” he told the assembly, eliciting accusations of anti-Italian bias. “You think we’re hostage. We’re free to go.” After a brief apology for singling out Italy, he turned on the rest of Europe. “It’s not us that will be hurt,” he continued. “We don’t have to buy German motorcars, we don’t have to buy French wine, we don’t have to eat Belgian chocolate.”

Sixteen months later, the pomposity has turned to pleading. Facing the increasingly likely possibility that Britain will crash out of the European Union with no guardrails, hardliners are now arguing that the severe economic consequences of a no-deal Brexit would violate Europe’s own obligations to treat Britain fairly. Specifically, they say, a no-deal Brexit would go against Article 8 of the Lisbon Treaty, which states that the E.U. should aim to “establish an area of prosperity,” including “neighborliness” and “cooperation” with nearby countries. “That’s certainly not the description of their behavior at the moment,” former Brexit secretary David Davis groused to The Daily Telegraph over the weekend. “The Lisbon Treaty requires them to come up with a workable arrangement.” Another Whitehall source agreed, telling the paper, “[The E.U.] has obligations to help us. . . . The way they are behaving is making things difficult, and if we end up with no deal we will make it clear whose fault it was.” The grumbling extended even to Theresa May’s own Cabinet: on Sunday, Trade Secretary Liam Fox claimed that the “intransigence” of the E.U. was “pushing us towards no deal,” the odds of which he posited at 60-40.

May’s office stressed “the importance of being pragmatic and practical in the negotiations.” But at this point, the E.U. seems less to blame for the looming prospect of a no-deal exit than May’s own party, whose ideological discord and persistent squabbling has paralyzed negotiations ahead of an October deadline, sending nervous tremors through the business community and the broader public. Those fears were recently exacerbated by reports that the government plans to stockpile medicine, drugs, and food in anticipation of a nightmare, no-deal Brexit. On Friday, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney dialed up the fear factor, telling the BBC that the possibility is “uncomfortably high.”

Whitehall sources say the fearmongering is all part of a plan to turn up the heat on the E.U. But the doom and gloom has backfired somewhat, effectively hampering Downing Street’s attempts at orderly preparation. As it gears up to release roughly 70 papers offering industries and individuals advice on how to prepare for a no-deal, rumors have emerged that, should it come to pass, the army will be deployed to maintain food and other supplies. “This is about putting in place sensible preparations in the unlikely event of no deal,” countered an official spokesperson. “There are no plans to involve the Army. I don’t know where that speculation came from.” Even more annoyed than the government at this speculation are the bona fide Brexiteers, who have dubbed talk of a no-deal “Project Fear Mark II.” “Mark Carney has long been the high priest of project fear whose reputation for inaccurate and politically motivated forecasting has damaged the reputation of the Bank of England,” tweeted Jacob Rees-Mogg. (“This is not project fear, this is project reality,” countered Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as he warned of a “no deal by accident.”)

All the turbulence has made May easy bait for those hoping to take her place. Over the weekend, her potential competitors sharpened their claws. “Our negotiating advantages are meaningless without leadership brave enough for the task,” wrote former International Development Secretary Priti Patel in the Sunday Telegraph, while the Sunday Times reported that Boris Johnson is considering founding an organization aimed at touting his governing pedigree in September. Other conservatives, meanwhile, continue to dismiss the gravity of the situation. The “gloom and alarm and despondency,” Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin explained on Monday, is unnecessary. “We will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about, a bit like the millennium bug.”