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The politician, who was one of the leading Tory Maastricht Bill rebels in 1992, rejected the idea Brexit posed the same threat to his party as the European Union treaty did to John Major 25

years ago.

The legislation created the EU’s three pillars structure, which was later abandoned in 2009 with the Treaty of Lisbon, and led to the creation of the single European currency.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, he said the previous rebellion took place “because we believed in something which was about democracy, sovereignty and the mechanics of European

government”.

Three cheers for Gina Miller for having allowed us to have an act of Parliament which would have to be repealed

He added: “But having said that, actually I think the situation this time is quite different because we’ve already had a referendum, which was passed by an act of Parliament in both Houses.

“It was then followed by the Withdrawal Act – and three cheers for Gina Miller for having allowed us to have an act of Parliament which would have to be repealed.”

Sir Bill said the General Election result further proved Britain's unity on the Brexit issue.

He said: “The most significant thing is the fact that the 86 per cent of all the constituencies, whether they’re Conservative or Labour voted to leave on the basis of their manifesto.

“So for practical purposes, I think the situation is very different and for anybody, shall we say a Conservative Remainer, who I think might even want to be a Conservative reverser, actually

to face down that situation would be incurring a very considerable difficulty.”

The comments come after reports of rebel Tories potentially blocking the Great Repeal Bill.

Mrs May also came up against further calls for her to stand down, as allies of Brexit Secretary David Davis are accused of running a “black ops” campaign against her leadership.

One MP told The Sunday Times that Mrs May would face “misery” if she tried to hang on through two years of Brexit talks.

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