Tory MP accuses Boris Johnson of causing death threats against him in damning condemnation of ‘demagogue’ prime minister

A Conservative MP has accused Boris Johnson of putting his life at risk because his “tub-thumping populism” over Brexit has triggered death threats against him.

In an extraordinary criticism, Dominic Grieve said the prime minister was “behaving like a demagogue” – arguing it led directly to “vile” and menacing messages from members of the public.

The former attorney general spoke out after Mr Johnson claimed that MPs fighting a no-deal Brexit had joined in “a terrible collaboration” with Brussels to keep the UK in the EU.

“The rhetoric leads straightforwardly to the death threats which I receive,” Mr Grieve warned.

“And this seems to me that the language he’s using is not that of what I would expect of a Conservative prime minister.

“We have a deeply divided country – I think we have to accept that – and we are not going to resolve this problem by the sort of tub-thumping populism which he’s trying to espouse.

“He’s behaving like a demagogue, but I don’t think we should be surprised about that, given his track record.”

After accusations such as “collaborator” and “traitor”, MPs “immediately start to receive really vile emails and communications from members of the public, and some of them contain death threats”, Mr Grieve told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland.

“All of us who have been trying to stand up for our principles and for our country are recipients of this,” he added.

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson blamed the “collaboration” for the EU refusing to budge on the rejected divorce deal, “because they still think Brexit can be blocked in parliament”.

“The awful thing is that the longer that goes on the more likely it is of course that we will be forced to leave with a no-deal Brexit,” Mr Johnson claimed.

The comments drew immediate criticism, with some MPs warning of a risk of a repeat of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a right-wing fanatic.

Mr Grieve added: “I want to save the Tory party from the likes of Mr Johnson – he’s hijacking it and taking it in directions which I find extremely worrying.”

He repeated his belief that any caretaker government, if Mr Johnson is toppled in a no-confidence vote, could not be led by Mr Corbyn who was too divisive a figure.

“It’s absolutely vital in those circumstances that there should be high levels of trust in the person who is doing it, and that they are seen as being there in a caretaker capacity with the support cross-party to achieve those goals,” Mr Grieve said.

But the Labour leader continued to insist opponents of a no-deal Brexit should rally behind him to be the stopgap premier, before a general election is called.

“I am the leader of the Labour Party, Labour is the largest opposition party by far. That is the process that must be followed,” Mr Corbyn said, on a visit to Bolton.