David Cameron and Ken Clarke have joined a concerted push by Conservative heavyweights for Theresa May to accept her hard Brexit policy is doomed.
The former prime minister urged his successor to "consult more widely" with other parties on the exit talks, saying: "I think there will be pressure for a softer Brexit."
The call was quickly followed by a plea from Clarke, the former Chancellor, for new trade barriers "between us and our most important market in the world" to be avoided at all costs. Meanwhile, Philip Hammond, the current Chancellor, is believed to be leading a Cabinet push for the Prime Minister to abandon her plan to pull out of the EU's customs union.
On Tuesday, Sir John Major warned May that her stance was "increasingly unsustainable", with the loss of her Commons majority, insisting: "A hard Brexit was not endorsed by the electorate."
However, May – at least publicly – is refusing to change course. The Cabinet endorsed the current Brexit policy when it met yesterday.
And speaking in Paris, alongside French president Emmanuel Macron, she claimed: "The timetable for the Brexit negotiations remains on course and will begin next week."
Shortly before, the Prime Minister appointed Steve Baker, the leader of Parliament's most prominent Eurosceptic group, to a key ministerial post in the Brexit department.
Cameron's intervention came when he spoke to a conference in Poland, where he warned the dramatic election results made May's approach "difficult". Arguing the Parliament "deserves a say" on any deal, he said: "Perhaps [there is] an opportunity to consult more widely with the other parties on how best we can achieve it."