Theresa May had better get used to hearing the words “chuck Chequers” uttered from Tory lips over the next few weeks. The curt suggestion about what should be done with the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan, named after her country retreat where it was agreed by the Cabinet, has become the slogan of her party’s Brexiteer wing.
As the battle to try to force her to change course heats up, her critics plan to drop the phrase into their every public pronouncement.
During Parliament summer break MPs in the European Research Group (ERG) of Eurosceptic backbenchers have been in close contact plotting their “chuck Chequers” strategy.
Hopes in Number 10 that some time away from the Westminster hot house may have cooled Eurosceptic ire appear certain to be dashed.
“The public have already started to pick up the chuck Chequers call,” one senior MP involved in the ERG’s strategy discussions told me. “We’re hearing voters talking about it on the doorsteps. The more they find out about the detail of the Chequers plan and what it means for the country’s future, the less they like it.”
Members of the backbench rebel group insist the Chequers plan, which proposes permanent close customs links with Brussels and a “common rulebook” of regulations, is a betrayal of the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU.
“We’ve had Project Fear, now we’ve got Project Con because Chequers is a con trick on the public. It means we are not really leaving the EU,” the MP said.
Brexiteers are determined to take the “chuck Chequers” message far beyond Westminster through a series of public meetings and a social media blitz.
Mrs May’s critics point to opinion polling suggesting that concessions to Brussels are damaging Tory support in swathes of the country that voted to quit the EU in the referendum.