Dominic Grieve has asserted that Prime Minister Theresa May privately believes Brexit is a “mistake”.

Speaking to Nick Robinson on the BBC, the Tory Remainer pointed out that the Prime Minister consistently refuses to say whether Brexit will benefit Britain.

He added that the sense he gets from Mrs May during meetings is that she is trying to “minimise” the damage of the referendum result.

Mr Grieve said: “Our professional differences which may arise over Brexit have always been conducted in a totally professional way and I’m very respectful of her.

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“I’m also very respectful of the immense burden she’s having to carry because the truth is that she’s having to resolve a problem which is – or appears to be at the moment – almost insoluble

Nick Robinson told the former attorney general: “Some people say she’s really doing it out of duty, who knows that someone has to deliver this thing, who feels it’s her duty to deliver it and there’s not a great deal of joy or pleasure in it for her.”

Mr Grieve responded: “I shouldn’t think there is and I suspect that duty plays a very large role in the way she approaches her job.

“I mean I’ve been struck, for example, by the fact that each time she’s been asked ‘Will we benefit economically form Brexit?’ she’s always refused to answer the question.

GETTY; BBC

Dominic Grieve has asserted that Prime Minister Theresa May privately believes Brexit is a “mistake”

Each time she’s been asked ‘Will we benefit economically form Brexit?’ she’s always refused to answer the question

Dominic Grieve

“It may be that the truth is that she thinks this is a mistake but at the same time she accepted post the 2016 referendum that as the referendum result had gone in a particular way she had to try to implement this as best she could and in a way which minimised damage and maximised opportunity.

“That’s how I’ve seen how she’s approached this and that’s not an improper way of doing it. “

The idea that Mrs May does not believe wholeheartedly in Brexit is not new.

Last October, the Prime Minister ran into controversy when she refused to say whether she would vote for Brexit if there was another EU referendum today.

BBC

Grieve told BBC’s Nick Robinson that Theresa May refuses to answer key Brexit questions

The Prime Minister campaigned for Remain during the referendum.During the interview with Iain Dale on LBC, Mrs May Mrs May refused to give a straight answer to the question.At the same time, more than 30 Brexiteer politicians have piled pressure on Theresa May by demanding an “absolute” withdrawal from the EU.In a letter to the Prime Minister, the MPs warned her not to soften Brexit out of pressure from the pro-EU backbench rebels.