With only 19 days until Brexit, Theresa May faces defeat after Tuesday's MP vote
Theresa May’s future in Downing Street was last night hanging in the balance – as allies discussed openly whether she should resign to save her Brexit deal.
With just 19 days to go until Brexit, Mrs May is facing her second heavy Commons defeat on the deal when MPs vote on her plans on Tuesday – unless Brussels offers a dramatic last-minute concession on the hated ‘backstop’ to assuage the concerns of Brexiteers.
Cabinet Ministers, No 10 advisers and MPs increasingly believe that Mrs May will have to offer to resign as part of an ‘Ides of March’ blood deal with pro-Brexit MPs: they argue that the prospect of installing ‘one of their own’ in No 10 might be the only way to persuade the Brexiteers to accept her deal.
The ‘Ides of March’ – March 15 in the Roman Calendar – was the day Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC at a meeting of the Senate.
Cabinet Ministers, No 10 advisers and MPs argue that the prospect of installing ‘one of their own’ in No 10 might be the only way to persuade the Brexiteers to accept her deal
One ally of the Prime Minister said: ‘If she has to make that sacrifice in order to secure her legacy, then I think she would.’
Another powerful Downing Street figure added: ‘The only way she would countenance going voluntarily is if it could get her deal over the line.’
The leading candidates to succeed Mrs May –- Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, his predecessor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Sajid Javid – are all ready to launch immediate leadership bids. Other potential candidates – including Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss, who are on a joint trip to America this weekend – are ‘considering their options’.
Tense negotiations between the UK and the EU are expected to continue all weekend and until late tomorrow, with Ministers in London being updated on the progress by video-link.
Last night, a Downing Street source hinted that a dramatic breakthrough might still be possible by saying that RAF Northolt had put the PM’s plane on standby for a last-minute dash to Brussels.
The source said the Prime Minister was ‘intensely focused’ on making progress but ‘these are tough talks we are expecting to go right down to the wire’.
Nerves are still jangling in No 10 following the provocative offer on Friday by the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier of limiting the backstop – staying aligned to EU rules – to Northern Ireland only.
No 10 reminded Mr Barnier, who is today planning to be in Dublin for the France-Ireland Six Nations rugby clash, that the idea was first rejected a year ago because it would divide the UK.
On Friday, talks between EU and UK officials continued into the night. Mrs May was briefed in the early hours of yesterday on the limited progress.
Government sources said the current expectation was that Brussels would unveil a ‘small concession’ on the backstop – but not, they feared, one which would be sufficient to win over all the rebels.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, who is leading the efforts to alter the withdrawal agreement, tells today’s Mail on Sunday that he will ‘not put his name’ to any legal opinion which backs the EU’s proposals if there is any risk of us being indefinitely detained in the backstop.
‘My professional reputation is far more important to me than my reputation as a
