EU Referendum: Tory civil war escalates as Ken Clarke says Boris is just a ‘nicer Donald Trump’ amid leadership coup

This from Christopher Hope, our Chief Political Correspondent

A defiant David Cameron has told his critics that he is not part of “some massive establishment conspiracy” and said he will spend next 24 days setting out the risks to Britain from a Brexit

Mr Cameron said: “We say it not because we are part of some massive establishment conspiracy – it would be a pretty exquisite conspiracy that could bring together that bring together the Labour Mayor the son of a bus driver and a Tory son of a stockbroker – that is quite a conspiracy."

“I know there is uncertainty, I know there is confusion. I will do everything I can in the next 24 days to speak clearly , to speak positively about the future our country and why this matters so much, whether you are young or old, or black or white, whether you represent a city seat or rural seat.”

In a scathing editorial the magazine has dubbed Brexit "culturally" isolating and its supporters a "Ship of Fools". 

Here is an exert: 

Will sanity prevail, or will it be midsummer madness? Set for the eve of Midsummer Day, the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union looks likely to reveal that the kingdom is anything but united, with a vote that is possibly too close to predict.

What's absolutely clear is that serious damage will be done to this country’s arts if the Brexit camp wins and if ties are cut with the EU. A vote to leave would be to declare that Britain is an island not just physically but culturally – and all for a dislike of top-heavy bureaucracy.

No one can deny our place in European culture, and not believing that we are all responsible for it – especially as southern European member states, the cradles of our civilisation, depend on EU funding for preservation of that culture – is just as foolish as not recognising the idealism of the European project that has sustained peace in 28 member states, and ensured progress in practically every area of our daily lives.

But no, we live in a country where the culture secretary was the first cabinet minister to declare his support for Brexit: John Whittingdale, indulging his petty Euroscepticism rather than standing for culture. He is of course a mere cadet on that Ship of Fools captained by Michael Gove, with a motley crew mostly playing the immigration card.

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, speaking for Vote Leave, said: "David Cameron cannot be trusted.

"Just a month ago he attacked Sadiq Khan as a terrorist sympathiser yet today he hailed him as a great politician as he stood next to him on a shared platform," the former Tory said.

"Today he trumpeted the benefits of the European Arrest Warrant but a few years ago he warned that it was dangerous and that it stripped away centuries-old rights from the British people."

Vote Leave said Mr Cameron had criticised the EAW in an article 15 years ago and dismissed each of the in campaign's "guarantees".

The former Bank of England governor has intervened, as Sarah Knapton, our Science Editor, reports: 

The former governor of the Bank of England has criticised the Brexit and Remain campaigns ahead of the referendum claiming that both sides are making ‘wildly exaggerated claims’ which insult the intelligence of voters.

Lord King said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ in the rhetoric of the referendum debate and criticised the government for setting the tone of the discussion.

Speaking at The Hay Literary Festival in Wales, Lord King warned that the campaign had become so vicious that David Cameron would struggle to reunite his party after the vote on June 23.

Although Lord King is an open critic of the Euro, he refused to say which way he would be voting and said that the campaigns should have been more honest about the benefits of both staying in Europe and leaving.

“I have been deeply disappointed to put it midly at the tone of this whole referendum,” he told an audience in the Telegraph tent at Hay-on-Wye.

“Both sides have been engaged in a public relation campaign which insults the intelligence of the voters by making wildly exaggerated claims and I think that the government has to take some responsibility for the tone.

“Instead of saying to people ‘it’s a difficult decision and I can understand that there are arguments to stay and arguments for leaving, we tried to get a better deal for the UK. Maybe it wasn’t the best we could have dreamt of but it’s better than where we were,’ etc.

“I think if both sides had presented themselves in that way, it would have been more successful in winning votes for their side and I think it would have been a whole lot easier to pull the government together after the referendum which now looks a lot more difficult than Prime Minister surely must have hoped for.”

Read on here.

... five come along at once. 

Labour, Ukip and the Tories have a campaign bus, as well as one each for the In and Out campaign. Here they are. All coming to a stage-managed rally near you.

IN CAMPAIGN BUSES

 OUT CAMPAIGN BUSES

Tim Ross, our Senior Political Correspondent, has this from today's front page. 

Immigration from mainland Europe will “change the face” of Britain and lead to swathes of the countryside being built over to provide new homes for migrants, a Cabinet minister has warned.

Chris Grayling, the Leader of the House, said new roads will be needed to avoid “gridlock” and hitherto protected Green Belt land will disappear under housing estates in order to cope with the influx, if Britain stays in the European Union.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Grayling said Britons must vote to leave the European Union in the referendum next month and then immediately introduce new laws to ban migrants from coming to the UK to look for work, he says.

His comments come as pro-Brexit campaigners escalate their attacks on the Prime Minister in a series of highly critical and personal remarks.

On Sunday, Leave campaigners including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Priti Patel, the employment minister, targeted Prime Minister David Cameron over his failure to honour the Tories’ manifesto pledge of cutting net migration to the tens of thousands.

Mr Johnson and Mr Gove said Mr Cameron’s failure to curb migration was “corrosive of public trust”, while Ms Patel said Mr Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne do not care about the effects of mass migration on working families because they are so rich.

Former Tory Prime Minister Sir John Major also waded into the row, as he accused the Leave side of telling deliberate untruths.

“They have - knowingly - told untruths about the cost of Europe," he said. "They have promised negotiating gains that cannot - and will not - be delivered.

“They have raised phantom fears that cannot be justified, puffing up their case with false statistics, unlikely scenarios and downright untruths. To mislead the British nation in this fashion - when its very future is at stake - is unforgivable.”

1) Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Bedfordshire

"My letter’s already in. If the Remain camp wins by a large majority, let’s say 60:40, then David Cameron might just survive. But if Remain win by a narrow majority or if Leave – as I certainly hope, I think – will win he’s toast within days. 

"He’s lied profoundly and I think that is actually really at the heat of why Conservative MPs have been so angered. There are many issues about which David Cameron has told outright lies and the trust because of that has gone in both him and George Osborne."

2) Sir Bill Cash, MP for Stone

"My view is that they’ve been engaged in monumentally misleading propaganda. … They have relentlessly and fragrantly been anything but impartial and inaccurate. 

Basically I think that they have got a very, very short time in which to correct all this. In my 30 year I’ve never seen anything on this including during Sir John Major’s time.”

“I am certainly considering it [a letter]. It is up to them. My powerful warning to them is get your act together, make sure that you put voters first and the country first.”

3) Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire

“Whether he wins or loses this referendum, David Cameron is probably finished as party leader.

"If the country votes to leave the EU, he should - and probably will - choose to resign.  But his Project Fear has infuriated Conservative colleagues so much that if the result is a vote for Remain, he will almost certainly face a vote of no confidence.

“There will easily be 50 MPs who will write letters of no confidence to the chairman of the 1922 committee,” he said. We will have to have a new leader and he or she will need to go to the country to get a fresh mandate and a bigger majority. We could be looking at a general election before the clocks go back in the autumn.”

Here is our overnight take on yesterday's emerging leadership coup and comments from veteran Tory eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash that will fan the flames. 

A third Tory MP has broken cover and said he is ready to demand David Cameron goes unless he tones down attacks in the EU referendum as a leadership coup erupted in public on Sunday. 

Sir Bill Cash, who chairs the European Scrutiny committee, told The Telegraph he has grown infuriated by the Prime Minister’s “monumentally misleading propaganda” and demanded a more conciliatory tone.

 The veteran Eurosceptic said he was “certainly considering” submitting a letter calling for a no confidence vote and gave the leadership 10 days to drop “inaccurate” warnings over leaving the EU. 

The warning came as a Tory MP issued a remarkable attack on the Prime Minister on live television by accusing him of having “lied profoundly” over the EU referendum. 

Nadine Dorries, a frequent critic of Mr Cameron, revealed she had submitted a letter that could trigger a leadership challenge to the backbench 1922 committee and said he was “toast” as leader. 

Earlier Tory MP Andrew Bridgen had said that the Prime Minister was “finished” and refused to rule out also submitting a letter of no confidence. 

On Sunday there was a string of attacks from Tory cabinet ministers as Michael Gove and Boris Johnson said the Prime Miniser had eroded public confidence over his failed  immigration target. 

Number 10 attempted to play down talk of a coup by saying Mr Cameron remained committed to winning the referendum and pointing to Euroscetic Tories who believe he should remain in post. 

Prime Minister tells voters he is a "Eurosceptic" while campaigning for a Remain vote with Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

A month ago David Cameron was questioning Mr Khan's integrity as he said the mayoral candidate had appeared alongside an extremist who supported Isil. 

The campaign against Mr Khan was heavily criticsed by some - including Tory grandees - for its tone amid claims of "dog whistle" racism. 

Today, now Mr Khan has won, Mr Cameron has taken quite a different tone. He called him a "proud Muslim, proud Britain and proud Londoner." 

David Cameron is up now up at the pro-EU campaign event being broadcast live on TV news channels. 

He matches Mr Khan's 'bus driver dad' joke by saying: "I’m the son of a stockbroker. It’s not quite as romantic!"

The Prime Minister says he is "proud" to stand side-by-side with the "Labour London Mayor" because it shows the breadth of support for staying in the EU. 

Mr Cameron admits that him and  Mr Khan have "disagreed" before. "We have in the past and I’m sure we will again in the future," he says. 

He adds that there is a "unity of purpose" among those gathered for the rally and references support for an In vote among trade unions. 

Sadiq Khan goes first at the event to launch the In campaign's new guarantee card and its campaign battle bus. 

He begins with a joke, saying "I don't know how many of you know this but my dad use to drive a bus" - a message he repeatedly dropped during his mayoral race. 

He justifies appearing alongside Mr Cameron by saying: "It is in London’s interest for the Mayor of London and the government to work closely together. We will work closely together."

He goes on: “There is a positive case for us to Remain in the European Union

"The economic case is crystal clear, the evidence is compelling … here in London I see more than half a million jobs directly coming from the European Union."

Mr Khan said Britain is "open-minded", "outward looking" and "embraces" other cultures. 

"That’s why I say to young people get involved, get registered, have your say and make sure you make a decision that will affect your future and the future of generations to come," he ends. 

The pro-EU former Tory chancellor has been leading the backlash against those MPs who went public with their frustration at Mr Cameron's leadership yesterday. 

On the BBC's Today programme this morning, Mr Clarke said: “I think Boris and Donald Trump should go away for a bit and enjoy themselves and not get in the way of serious issues which modern countries in the 21st century face.

“He’s a much nicer version of Donald Trump but the campaign is remarkably similar in my opinion, and about as relevant to the real problems the public face.”

He added that the comments from Ms Dorries and other Tory backbenchers about Mr Cameron's future were a "diversion" from the referendum.

“It’s completely unhelpful – not least because it diverts attention from what we ought to be talking about. We ought to be talking about the benefit this country gets, and always has, from being in the EU,” he said.

“The personalities get in the way and it’s no good turning the leave campaign into a leadership bid for Boris Johnson and anti-immigrant fears.”

He added: "All this stuff about whether one or two backbenchers have signed a letter calling for David Cameron to resign, I think most of the public would agree is a bit of a diversion. The public are getting fed up of Tory civil wars when they thought they were being asked about the future of this country for their children and grandchildren.

“Why are the leave campaign turning the whole thing into an argument about Turkish criminals about to flood into the country and Boris Johnson’s bid for the leadership?”

Here is the five-point pledge card being launched today

1. Full access to the EU’s single market: supporting 3 million jobs, lower prices for families and a strong economy to fund the NHS.
2. Workers’ rights protected: paid leave, parental rights, holidays and anti-discrimination laws.
3. Keeping the European Arrest Warrant: fighting crime and terrorism, bringing criminals to justice.
4. A special status in Europe: never joining the euro while keeping control of our borders, and new rules so EU nationals only have access to welfare once they’ve paid in.
5. Stability for our country: protecting living standards and avoiding potential recession”.

David Cameron is expected to say: “These guarantees – from safeguarding our economy to protecting our security – show the positive case for remaining inside the EU. Whenever Leave campaigners are asked what Britain will look like outside of the EU, all they can say is: “we just don’t know”.

Sadiq Khan will say: “The UK and London will be stronger, fairer and more prosperous if we remain in Europe, with access to the single market and guaranteed protections to workers’ rights. Throwing these advantages away would be a betrayal of our British values and our history”. 

A month ago David Cameron was accusing Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, of sharing platforms with extremists and questionings hius integrity.

Now that Mr Khan has won the race it is all smiles as the Prime Minister appears alongside his former foe to make the case for staying in the European Union.

The pair are launching a five-point “guarantee card” – a trick mastered by New Labour in their 1997 election campaign – to hammer home the benefits of staying in the EU.

They appear together at 10.30 today. The Westminster newspaper pack was no invited to attend but TV cameras should be there.

There is also fallout from yesterday’s heated take-down of the Prime Minister from Tory MP (and frequent critic) Nadine Dorries and much more to be detailed throughout the day.

Follow it all here.