WHEN Theresa May called June’s snap general election, she cited the need for a united front over Brexit as the primary justification for her decision.

“Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit, and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country,” said the Prime Minister.

Three months on from polling day, and there is still plenty of conflict about the UK’s negotiating stance. The chief problem for Mrs May now, however, is that most of it is occurring within the Conservative party.

Boris Johnson’s provocative decision to spell out his own vision for Brexit in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph has exposed the gaping divides within the Tory party as they look to negotiate the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Home secretary Amber Rudd branded Mr Johnson a “back-seat driver”, while Damian Green, a close ally of the Prime Minister, criticised the foreign secretary’s timing given that his lengthy newspaper article was published just days before Mrs May is due to make a major Brexit speech of her own in Florence.

At a time when the country desperately needs senior members of the Conservative party to shelve their own narrow interests in order to pursue the greater good of a positive Brexit deal, the Government is in danger of being ripped apart by internal power struggles.

One can imagine the EU’s negotiating team rubbing their hands with glee as they prepare to kick off a new round of discussions with Brexit secretary David Davis. While EU leaders are ready to fight their corner ahead of a British withdrawal, the figures on the opposite side of the table are busy squabbling with each other. That has to end immediately.