FACTION: Tory Remainers

PLOT: Give parliament control over Brexit

RINGLEADERS: Nick Boles, Nicky Morgan, Oliver Letwin

Remain-supporting Tories led by Nick Boles have one key aim: to prevent a no-deal Brexit at all costs. Their chosen method to do so is to pass an amendment by Jan. 21 that lets parliament take charge of Brexit by temporarily — and extraordinarily — suspending the government’s traditional control of the Commons order paper. If Boles’ idea succeeds, the PM could be forced to delay or even revoke Article 50 — the process which means the UK is set to leave the EU on March 29 — if parliament cannot unite on a plan B.

Will it work? BuzzFeed News has learned that the clerk of the Commons, David Natzler, has told colleagues that Boles’ amendment would be in order. But there are problems. Parliamentary rules dictate that a bill put forward by rebel MPs is not allowed to spend any money. This would create an almighty row over whether revoking Article 50 counts as “spending money”: On the one hand, the act of revoking it costs nothing, on the other hand, it means ongoing payments to the EU.

The other problem for Boles is the Liaison Committee does not seem too keen on the idea. This morning its chair, Sarah Wollaston, tweeted her opposition, warning: “Backbench MPs cannot take over conducting a complex international negotiation.”

But the decision of Commons speaker John Bercow to tear up the parliamentary rulebook last week has set a precedent that the normal rules cannot be relied upon. A government source told BuzzFeed News that the Boles plan should technically be impossible, but said they feared it still gives them wide scope to “inflict damage” and make it impossible for the PM to govern. Of course, the idea that Brexit could be derailed by parliament is just the sort of narrative Downing Street is looking for to spook Brexiteers into voting for the deal.

“The Hardest Brexit of All”