Theresa May's chief whip claims a soft Brexit was 'inevitable' after the 2017 election and says the PM's ministers are guilty of the 'worst example of ill-discipline in British political history' Julian Smith, the Tory chief whip, attacks Government in ministers in BBC film He said: 'After the 2017 election... The parliamentary arithmetic would mean that this would be inevitably a softer type of Brexit' Mr Smith added ministers have been 'sitting around the Cabinet table trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)'By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline Published: 07:26 BST, 1 April 2019 | Updated: 07:27 BST, 1 April 2019 Viewcomments Julian Smith, the Tory chief whip, has attacked Cabinet members over the 'worst example of ill-discipline in British political history' Theresa May's Commons enforcer has criticised the Government's approach to leaving the EU and said his party should have made it clear a 'soft Brexit' was 'inevitable' after the 2017 election. In an extraordinary interview Julian Smith, the Tory chief whip, also and attacked Cabinet members over the 'worst example of ill-discipline in British political history'. He said ministers have been 'sitting around the Cabinet table trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)', revealing the battle the Prime Minister has with both Brexiteer and remainers in her Cabinet. Mr Smith spoke out to suggest ministers had pursued the wrong strategy after the Prime Minister lost the Conservatives' Commons majority in the 2017 snap election. Mr Smith said the result of the poll meant that Mrs May simply did not have enough MPs to back a harder version of Brexit. The comments were published by the BBC amid speculation that Parliament may force the PM to seek membership of a customs union with Brussels in order to pass her deal, which would mean ripping up one of her key red lines. 'The thing that people forget is that the Conservative Party went to get a majority in order to deliver Brexit (and) failed to get a majority,' the chief whip said. 'The Government as a whole probably should just have been clearer on the consequences of that. The parliamentary arithmetic would mean that this would be inevitably a softer type of Brexit.' While the strategy was apparently misjudged, Mr Smith said he was 'frustrated' by MPs who 'don't see the light as clearly as I do'. Mrs May's deal has now fallen three times in the Commons, with Tory MPs among those who voted against it on each occasion. However Mr Smith highlighted that a lack of discipline extended all the way to the Cabinet, with ministers 'sitting around the Cabinet table ... trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)'. 'This is I think the worst example of ill-discipline in Cabinet in British political history,' he said. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility