Vote Leave campaign director threatens to set up new group

The official Leave campaign director has threatened to set up a new group as he said some Conservative Brexiteers should be treated like a “metastasising tumour”.

Dominic Cummings criticised a “narcissist-delusional subset” of the influential European Research Group (ERG) that he said needed to be “excised”.

With Brexit delayed, he issued a threat to MPs who promised “to respect the referendum result then abandoning” the pledge that “actions have consequences”.

The Vote Leave director called on activists to start “rebuilding our network” before suggesting a new campaign or party could be formed.

Mr Cummings’ blog post on Wednesday was in response to him being found to be in contempt of Parliament after he failed to appear before MPs investigating fake news.

He accused the subset of the ERG of “scrambling” for top radio spots while “spouting gibberish”.

During the EU referendum, he claimed, “so many of you guys were too busy shooting or skiing or chasing girls to do any actual work”.

“You should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic,” he added.

The outburst came as MPs prepared to take part in a series of “indicative votes” on Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Prominent Leave supporters, including ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson, signalled they could perform a U-turn to support the Prime Minister’s agreement in order to prevent no Brexit at all.

Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom said there was a “real possibility” there would be enough support for the Government to hold a third “meaningful vote” this week.