THERESA May was clinging on to office by her fingertips last night as ministers predicted she will be gone in 10 days.
The PM has one last throw of the dice to get her Brexit deal through Parliament this week – but that looks doomed to failure.
AP:Associated Press
AP:Associated Press
She looks increasingly isolated as even her most loyal allies concluded she has reached the end of the road.
A senior Cabinet source said: “Despite all the ideological splits over Brexit, we are now united on one front – we all think Theresa needs to go.”
But Mrs May has a last-gasp plan to rally rebel Tories behind her hated deal and stay at Number 10.
Sources say she will await the outcome of this week’s “pick ‘n’ mix” vote in which MPs choose a solution to the Brexit deadlock from a menu of seven.
They are certain to choose a “softer” Brexit, probably staying in the customs union and requiring a two-year extension of Article 50.
Mr May would then spring a snap Commons vote, forcing MPs to decide between that and her deal.
She hopes it will force hardline Brexiteers back in line – making her the hero of the hour.
‘BREXIT OR BUST’
But she is pinning her hopes on Speaker John Bercow – a self-confessed Remainer – allowing her one last vote.
Last night a senior Cabinet minister told The Sun on Sunday: “You have to admire her resilience.
“Theresa has surprised everyone with her tenacity but now it’s Brexit or bust. I can sense we’re in the end game. I think she’s got 10 days left.”
Yesterday senior Tory MPs openly texted each other saying Mrs May should go this week.
Some want Deputy PM David Lidington to act as a caretaker to sort out the mess while a new leader is elected.
Others favour a “triumvirate” run by Mr Lidington, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Government chief whip Julian Smith and his team are also on the brink of resigning over the PM’s refusal to listen.
MPs tempers are fraying after she blamed THEM for the chaos in a TV outburst from Number 10 last Wednesday.
‘IT WAS LIKE MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS’
In a meeting soon afterwards, her whips warned she now risks destroying not only Brexit but the Tory party, too.
One member, Paul Maynard, was close to tears as he told her: “I think things are slipping away from us.”
An insider revealed: “It was like murder on the Orient Express.”
Each whip told her that they would not be able to find the numbers to get her deal through Parliament unless she made a public promise to stand down.
But Mrs May’s response was to sit motionless for a few seconds then reply: “Thank you for your honesty.” She then quickly changed the subject.
Mrs May has been left hopelessly cornered after her stubborn-ness and stalling tactics ran out of time and space.
If she went for a “no deal” Brexit, half her Cabinet would resign. If she backed a two-year delay, the other half would walk out.
The multi-choice vote on the best way forward is expected on Wednesday will almost certainly demand an extension beyond June 30 – which the PM has already insisted was unacceptable.
UK PARLIAMENT
A senior MP said: “She has less than three weeks to tell the EU what her next step is. If it’s an extension she is finished. Nobody is going to let her stay on the get us out of this mess.”
The only formal process to remove her is a no-confidence vote of the 1922 committee of MPs. But their failed bid to topple her in December means they cannot try again for a year.
That means she has to be persuaded to resign – or brought down by a general election.
Some angry MPs are suggesting the “nuclear option” a “Vote strike” until she gets the message.
Mrs May’s allies yesterday warned that politics will be in meltdown unless they come to their senses and back the deal.
No Plan B – just like Goran
By Ryan Sabey – exclusive
THERESA May has been accused of being the Sven-Goran Eriksson of politics – having no Plan B.
The PM has failed to set out another route out of the Brexit chaos remaining tight-lipped when quizzed this week by EU leaders.
The Swede, who managed England between 2001 and 2006, was accused for not having a rescue strategy by pundits.
Mrs May has written to all MPs to indicate she may not bring back her deal if it can’t command enough support to secure victory.
One Minister said: “Like Sven, she has no plan B when things go wrong. She just keeps moving the goal posts. She has now lost control of her dressing room.
“She has been running down the clock but now the EU have blown the whistle.”
Mrs May refused to sack Remain-backing Cabinet Ministers including Amber Rudd when she defied the party to keep no deal off the table infuriating colleagues.
Another Minister added: “Everyday you hope the PM and Number 10 can’t make it any worse and then they do.”
Hardline Brexiteers insist the PM should enact the law as it stands and leave without a deal when the deadline is reached at 11pm on Friday.
But by agreeing to extend Article 50 last week EU chiefs have trumped UK law so it is now impossible to crash out.
A Brexit-backing minister said: “Lots of Eurosceptics are thinking ‘one more push and we’ll get it over the line by Friday’ but the truth is they won’t.
“A communique released by the European Commission last week has changed the rules.
“So even if we have carried out all the legislation required to leave the EU, that will be trumped by international law which dictates that the extension to Article 50 takes precedence.”
‘LIKE PASSENGERS ON THE TITANIC’
Another pro-Brexit minister added: “Can’t they see that their Brexit dream is sinking before their eyes?
“They are behaving like passengers on the Titanic, who can see the ship going down but refuse to join a lifeboat and stand there pointing at the guarantee on the main deck.”
Cabinet discipline has broken down with Business Secretary Greg Clark being accused “freelancing” when he announced the PM would back a series of indicative votes.
One minister said: “Number 10 are furious as his attempt to bounce her into it. If she ends up having to go through with it, there will be some pretty angry people on the back benches, too.”
If MPs seize control of the process this week, Mrs May could give Tories a free vote.
Former minister Mark Francois, vice chairman of the European Research Group, said is proved she had given up the ghost on leading the country.
He declared: “If the government of this country does not have a view on how to proceed and the most important question facing Britain since the end of the second world war then, in effect, we no longer have a government, just a collection of individuals who call themselves ministers of the crown.
The Sun on Sunday says
WHEN Theresa May goes to church this morning she has plenty to pray for.
The Prime Minister finds herself in the worst of all worlds.
Despite her best intentions and a dogged determination to see Brexit through, the chances of her deal ever getting Commons support are pitiably low.
Some senior ministers put the likelihood of it passing next week at 5 per cent.
The PM has seen her own authority seep away and is now unable to unify her own Cabinet, let alone the party in general.
That means she is powerless even to call an election.
As the 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady points out here, her deal may be threadbare but it still offers the only realistic chance of Brexit actually taking place.
Backing it would give Britain a chance of a new start. If the deal fails again it seems Philip Hammond and David Lidington will be knocking on the PM’s door to tell her the time has come to make an exit.
But in the midst of this paralysing crisis even that is not an easy option.
There is no clear route to appointing a successor in the short term. And with the party at loggerheads even a swift transition to a caretaker PM is perilous.
After this week’s turmoil we face being stuck for some time with a lame-duck Prime Minister, whoever it may be.
Britain needs a miracle to avoid it.
“It’s a total and utter shambles and it’s all the Prime Minister’s fault.”
A Number 10 insider said: “Everyone at Number 10 is losing their rag at the slightest issue. It really does feel like the last days of Rome. Bunker mentality has set in.”
“Even in the early part of this week, the PM felt she could deliver her domestic agenda after getting Brexit through.”
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