London: Boris Johnson late on Wednesday night said that “history has been made” after MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of triggering Brexit negotiations and beginning the process of leaving the EU.

The Foreign Secretary called it a “momentous” night as MPs voted four to one in favour of triggering Article 50. Kenneth Clarke, a former chancellor, was the only Tory MP to oppose it.

Theresa May, the Prime Minister, was set to publish a White Paper on Thursday, formally setting out the Government’s plans for Brexit in response to the concerns of pro-European Tory MPs

In an emotional parliamentary session, MPs on Wednesday approved the first stage of a bill for triggering Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would fire the starting gun on two years of exit negotiations.

Many pro-EU MPs voiced their anguish at voting against their own deeply-held beliefs to pass the bill, which is expected to receive final approval by the House of Lords next month.

One MP was heard shouting “Suicide!” as the result of the vote was announced in the chamber.

Pro-Brexit newspapers lauded the result, though others Thursday warned of growing discontent in May’s centre-right Conservative Party.

“We have lift-off!” said the Daily Mail, hailing a “momentous day for Britain” after the “crushing majority” vote to start Brexit on its front page.

It featured an image of wartime leader Winston Churchill, and said the 114 lawmakers who voted against the bill had betrayed “the will of the people”.

But The Times said May was facing a revolt from backbench Conservatives unless she guarantees the right of more than three million EU citizens living in Britain to stay.

The premier wants the reciprocal rights of Britons in Europe guaranteed.

However, there were further signs of division among the Conservatives as George Osborne, the former chancellor, accused May of putting Brexit ahead of the economy and warned he would join the “fight” over Britain’s future outside the EU. The vote means the Government’s Brexit legislation has cleared its first hurdle and May is on course to trigger the process by her March deadline. There had been 14-and-a-half hours of debate and bitter clashes in Parliament over two days as nearly 100 MPs expressed their views about Brexit. MPs finally voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill by 498 votes to 114, with 47 Labour MPs, 50 SNP MPs and seven Liberal Democrats voting against.

It leaves Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, facing his third reshuffle in 18 months after 12 serving frontbenchers voted against it. Four members of his front bench team have already quit. Boris Johnson said: “I’ve just voted three times in the House of Commons for an absolutely momentous thing — to give our Prime Minister the right to trigger Article 50 and Britain to begin the path out of the EU. Don’t forget we may be leaving the EU treaties, but we are not leaving Europe. We are going to be making an amazingly positive contribution to our continent as we always have done and always will. But we are now able to forge a new identity with new free trade deals as global Britain.”

However, Osborne said that Mrs May has chosen “not to make the economy the priority in this negotiation”. He said that there will be “lively debates” to come on migration, state aid and agricultural policy.

“I will be in those fights for years to come,” he said. While he had argued “passionately” for Britain to stay in the European Union, Osborne said, he had “lost the case” and “sacrificed” his position in Government.

Ahead of the debate, May accused those planing to vote against Article 50 of abusing the trust of the people. During the debate Neil Coyle, a Labour MP who wants Britain to stay in the EU, was censured for calling the Government “b*******”. He also called Corbyn’s decision to impose a three-line whip on the vote a “disgrace”.

Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, said he would not oppose Article 50 even though he had not wanted the referendum. “We do not want to give the sense that people who voted for Brexit because they felt they had been ignored are being ignored once again,” he said.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, faced jeers of “where were you” from MPs after failing to turn up to the debate on Tuesday. Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader, said: “The choice the House will get is a bad deal or no deal.” The White Paper — conceded by May last month — will be based on the 12-point plan contained in her Brexit speech at Lancaster House last month.