Jacob Rees-Mogg has issued a stark warning to Prime Minister Theresa May saying that Britain forming a customs partnership with the European Union after Brexit would amount to a "betrayal" of the June 2016 referendum result to leave the European Union.
At an event for the think-tank "Open Europe," Rees-Mogg went as far as to label the Prime Minister's putative plans as "cretinous" and would be no different to the United Kingdom remaining in the EU.
His comments represent the harshest criticism yet of the Prime Minister by the conservative right-wing of the party amid continuing threats to replace Mrs May with a figure who will pursue a harder line with Europe.
The Conservative MP for Somerset has consistently advocated the most complete version of Brexit in which all institutional ties to the EU would be severed, along with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Agriculture Secretary Michael Gove.
On April 18, the government lost a crucial vote in the House of Lords where a majority voted down the Prime Minister's stated plan, outlined in her 2017 Lancaster House speech to pull the UK completely out of the European Customs Union as well as the Single Market.
Electronic tracking of goods and services crossing the border would be easier under such an arrangement.