(13.12.2018) Theresa May’s appeal for cross-party unity to halt the deepening Brexit crisis appears to have been rejected after the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said there was “no way on earth” the public wanted the Tories teaming up with Jeremy Corbyn.

The Tory rebel, who had been gathering plotters in his office hours before the vote that could have ended May’s premiership, said the party needed the prime minister to threaten to walk away from the deal, not reach out to Labour.