Theresa May will ask for a Brexit extension of no more than three months and then use it to try force through her deal because Britain is 'fed up' of waiting to leave the EU, it emerged today.
Mrs May abandoned her plan to ask the EU for a nine-month Brexit delay after furious cabinet ministers threatened to quit and told her the Tory party would only accept a wait until June.
A No 10 insider said today: 'The PM won't be asking for a long extension. There is a case for giving Parliament a bit more time to agree a way forward. But people in this country have been waiting nearly three years, they are fed up with Parliament's failure to take decision and the PM shares that frustration'.
The Prime Minister is expected to write to the EU today asking for a shorter extension, as Downing street admitted last night that Britain's departure from the European Union is at a crisis point.
The date she will ask for has not yet been revealed but Tory MP Damian Green, a former cabinet minister and close friend of Mrs May, predicted that the PM's letter to Donald Tusk will request a delay until May 22 'so the PM can have another go at getting the deal through.'
With nine days until Brexit, the EU is understood to be willing to agree a delay either at a summit in Brussels tomorrow or an emergency meeting of its 27 leaders next week - but sources have claimed that their price for a much longer extension to Article 50 could be a General Election or second referendum.
Prime Minister Theresa May sat behind her security guard as she is driven to the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, the PM will head to Brussels tomorrow as she seeks to agree an extension to Article 50 with the European Union
Speaker John Bercow refused to answer questions over his invocation of 17th century precedent, during a stormy session of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister rounded on Mr Bercow and said he was making a laughing stock of Parliament.
Andrea Leadsom accused Cabinet Remainers of frustrating Brexit, and hinted she could quit (pictured leaving the meeting on Tuesday)
Mrs May was forced into a humiliating retreat after being put under severe pressure by senior ministers at a cabinet meeting last night and is now expected to write to Donald Tusk for a three month extension, rather than ask for a lengthier departure date.
The sudden change of direction left some ministers reeling, one told The Sun: 'Nobody knows what the f*** is going on, or even who in No10 is actually gripping it. Maybe nobody is.
'The whole thing is a national humiliation on a scale we have not seen in many, many decades - if ever before.'
At the 90-minute cabinet meeting ministers were at loggerheads on just how long a potential extension would be.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and International Trade chief Liam Fox were thought to be against a lengthy delay, as was Commons leader Andrea Leadsom.
She said: 'This used to be the cabinet that would deliver Brexit and now from what I'm hearing it's not.'
It comes a thousand days on from the 2016 referendum – and just ten days before the UK is due to leave the Brussels club.
She told ministers that parliamentary opposition to No Deal, the rejection of her plan by MPs and John Bercow's decision to block a third vote this week meant she had been forced to try to put off the March 29 departure date.
Tomorrow she will travel to Brussels to establish the terms of an extension to Article 50 before putting it to the Commons next week.
During a stormy session of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister rounded on Mr Bercow for dredging up a 17th century convention in order to block a third vote on her plan. She said the Speaker was making a laughing stock of Parliament.
In the wake of his ruling, which came as a surprise to No 10, Mrs May told ministers: 'The Speaker has framed this debate as Parliament versus the Government. But what it actually is now is Parliament versus the people.'
A Cabinet source said: 'The only thing agreed this morning was that everyone hates Bercow.' The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mrs May had predicted a crisis if MPs rejected her deal for a second time, adding: 'That situation has come to pass.'
In other developments:
Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, warned the EU would attach strict conditions to any delay; Boris Johnson used face-to-face talks with Mrs May to warn her that he remains opposed to her deal; Andrea Leadsom accused Cabinet Remainers of frustrating Brexit, and hinted she could quit; Unconfirmed reports suggested the PM could make a final bid to get her deal through the Commons next Thursday – the day before Britain is due to leave; Mrs May warned the Cabinet that if a long delay is agreed, the UK would have to hold elections to the European Parliament in May; Downing Street said there were no circumstances in which Mrs May would
