Forget no-deal Brexit, leadership rivals told

Two of the front-runners in the battle to replac United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May have been told they will not be allowed to preside over the nation crashing out of the European Unio without a divorce deal.

The Guardian newspaper says former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and one-time Brexit secretary Dominic Raab have both been told by grandees of the Conservative Party that its rank-and-file members of Parliament would rather bring down the government than see the nation leave the EU in a so-called no-deal Brexit.

Johnson and Raab are hardline Brexiteers who have said they would rather leave the bloc without a deal than the one May negotiated. They were among Conservative Party MPs who worked in recent months to undermine May and oust her as leader and they are now both eager to lead the party and the nation.

With Nigel Farage's anti-EU Brexit Party performing very well in last week's European elections and stealing support from the Conservatives, there are now fears the party will lurch to the right.