Brexit: Minister claims 80% of public support May's deal then immediately apologises for making up statistic

'I totally apologise for that and I take that back,' Rory Stewart says

A government minister has been forced into an immediate apology after making up a statistic in defence of Theresa May’s draft Brexit agreement.

Rory Stewart, a justice minister who voted against leaving the European Union, told BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday “80 per cent of the Brexit public support this deal”.

Asked by presenter Emma Barnett “how on earth” he knew the level of public support for a document published just hours earlier, Mr Stewart responded, “Ok let me take that back”.

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“My sense is, sorry, let me get the language right on that. My sense is that if we have an opportunity to explain this, the vast majority of the British public would support this deal,” he said.

Pressed on the issue, the Tory MP said he was “producing a number” to “illustrate what I believe”.

“I totally apologise for that and I take that back,” he added.

Mr Stewart’s ham-fisted attempts to shore up Ms May’s leadership came amid a series of resignations on Thursday by ministers angry at the draft Brexit deal grudgingly agreed by the Cabinet the evening before.

Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, was the highest profile of four ministers to quit ahead of Ms May’s three-hour grilling in parliament over a deal described by a number of MPs as “dead on arrival”.

Westminster is braced for fresh resignations in the coming hours, as well as a potential leadership challenge after multiple Tory Brexiteers – including Jacob Rees-Mogg – submitted letters of no confidence in Ms May.

“The game the Brexiteers are playing at the moment is extremely dangerous, they’re not being honest with people about the risks they’re taking,” Mr Stewart told 5 Live before making his gaffe.

“And what they are basically doing is radically increasing the risks of us crashing out with no plan and no deal, and that would be catastrophic for our economy, and that would create huge divisions for British society.”