EXACTLY two years to the day on which the UK voted to leave the EU, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the arch-Eurosceptic and champion of a devastating hard Brexit, can scent victory.

This week’s passage of the EU Withdrawal Bill, he says, has set the conditions for a future Conservative government to deliver a “clean Brexit”, even if Theresa May does not achieve that in negotiations with Brussels over the coming months.

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Rees-Mogg said the danger of a soft Brexit – in which the UK leaves the EU but remains subject to the rules of the single market or customs union – has been “significantly reduced” by the successful delivery of the bill.

Rees-Mogg said he believes June 23, 2016 will be remembered as a moment of change in British history as big as the Great Reform Act of 1832, victory at Waterloo in 1815 or the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

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And he said only the repeal of the Withdrawal Bill – “an extraordinarily difficult thing to do” – could now prevent the UK leaving on March 29, 2019. He also dismissed as “absurd” suggestions a further referendum should be held to secure the electorate’s support for an eventual deal.

Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Tory eurosceptics, said the chances of a bad deal which left Britain in a “semi-vassal” state were now low, in part because May would be unable to secure a majority in the Commons for such an arrangement.

But he said the crucial issue was the absence from the EU Withdrawal Bill of any provision to make Brexit conditional on the nature of the future relationship with Europe.

“A Brexit in Name Only now has to get through Parliament, whereas before the Withdrawal Bill was passed it could have been included in the Withdrawal Bill. It hasn’t been,” he said. “The legal position is now so much stronger for a clean Brexit. Crucially this makes the Prime Minister’s negotiating hand much stronger.”

Of the future relationship between the UK and the EU, he said: “Should we sign up to a customs union or the single market? In my view, absolutely not, it would be a great mistake and would leave us as a semi-vassal state.

“But EU law would have no direct effect in this country and any future government could change it.”

Challenged over whether this would mean uncertainty for years to come, he said: “There are always uncertainties in all walks of life, always.”

Rees-Mogg rejected suggestions that Tory Brexiteers are preparing to move against the Prime Minister if she shows any signs of drifting towards a “soft Brexit”.

“I think there will inevitably remain tensions in the Tory Party,” he said. “It would be silly for me to try to pretend that suddenly we will all be united.”

But he added: “The role of the ERG has been very much to support the Prime Minister in the Brexit policy that she has announced. We will continue to support the pursuit of the Brexit policy she has outlined.

“I fully support the Prime Minister and I think most people in the Conservative Party do.

“I don’t see any threat to May’s position. She’s got a good deal of support and with the Bill through, her position is significantly strengthened both domestically and in the EU. I think her position is secure.”

He did not, however, have such warm words for Chancellor Philip Hammond.

“I’m sure there are some people who would like to frustrate Brexit and some of them are in very high office and some of them may not be a million miles away from Number 11 Downing Street,” said Rees-Mogg. “Absolutely.

“But I think they are a minority in the Conservative Party and the country wants us to leave and I don’t think they will succeed in frustrating Brexit by the back door.”