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  Courtesy of the Telegraph.
  
  
  Theresa May has been urged to isolate “hardline Eurosceptics” and deliver a Brexit deal capable of uniting pro-European Tory and Labour MPs. Ken Clarke, the Tory former chancellor, said the “maths makes it obvious” that the only way for the Prime Minister to get an agreement through the House of Commons would be to unite Europhile MPs. But Mrs May said she hoped “everybody across this whole House will put the national interest first” when it comes to voting on her deal as she said MPs had a “duty” to deliver on the result of the 2016 EU referendum.
  
  Mr Clarke’s intervention came as pressure continued to grow on Mrs May to ditch her Chequers plan for Brexit and as talks entered a critical phase ahead of a crunch EU summit next week. Mr Clarke suggested Mrs May would need to strike a soft Brexit deal with Brussels in order for a majority of MPs to back it. Speaking during Prime Minister’s questions, he said: “It is obvious that the biggest task facing the Prime Minister this winter is firstly to obtain a compromise agreement with the other 27 European governments on the terms of our withdrawal and then to win the approval of this House, a majority in this House, for that same agreement or something like it in a meaningful vote on the terms of our departure.
  
  “Do you equally accept that the maths makes it obvious that that majority can only be obtained if the agreement retains the support of the pro-European Conservative backbenchers in this House and also wins the support of a significant number of Labour pro-European backbenchers on the other side of the House which would reveal that the hardline Eurosceptic views of the Bennites on the Labour frontbench and the right wing nationalists in our party are a minority in this Parliament.
  “Will she therefore proceed courageously on that basis in the formidable task that lies ahead of her?”

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