Tory donor threatens to fund new Brexit party after Chequers ‘fiasco’

Jeremy Hosking described the PM's plan as ‘Big Business Brexit tying us in EU knots’

A businessman who donated £1.5m to the Leave campaign has threatened to fund a new party if Theresa May fails to deliver Brexit, according to reports.

Jeremy Hosking, a co-owner of Crystal Palace football club, suggested that the “fiasco” of Theresa May’s Chequers plan was a conspiracy to prevent the UK leaving the European Union.

He told The Sunday Telegraph that he had carried out private polling which showed “clear support for a Brexit party that will deliver what the electorate thought it would be getting”.

City financier Mr Hosking gave more than £1.5m to Vote Leave ahead of the referendum (Getty)

Mr Hosking, who earned his wealth through investment fund management, has given the Conservative Party nearly £400,000 since 2015.

But he said Leave voters were being “heated up slowly like laboratory frogs” and described Chequers as “a ‘Big Business’ Brexit tying us up in EU knots”.

“The obvious question for Eurosceptics to ask is whether the current fiasco is accidental or premeditated?” Mr Hosking added.

“Normally the odds favour cock-up over conspiracy. The more plausible thesis by a distance is a deliberate attempt by the British establishment to render a real exit from the EU impossible.”

Ms May has insisted that Chequers “honours the result of the referendum” despite the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis over her plan.

She hit out at EU leaders after it was rejected by European Council president Donald Tusk and said the UK was ready to walk away without a deal.

“No one wants a good deal more than me,” said Ms May. ”But the EU should be clear: I will not overturn the result of the referendum. Nor will I break up my country.

“We need serious engagement on resolving the two big problems in the negotiations. We stand ready.”