After a torturous 14 hours at the EU Council, the Prime Minister returned to the British residency in Brussels in the early hours of Friday morning and demanded a large whisky.
But back in Westminster, her closest Cabinet colleagues were preparing to hand Theresa May a revolver to go with it.
Senior Cabinet Ministers and allies are privately urging Mrs May to set a departure date to help get her beleaguered Brexit deal over the line as ‘a matter of arithmetic’.
Michael Gove (right) has emerged as a ‘consensus’ candidate who could bring the crucial backing of both Remainers and Brexiteers, and act as a caretaker Prime Minister should a plot to force Mrs May (left) from office go ahead
Cabinet sources have told The Mail on Sunday that Mr Lidington was initially ‘reluctant’ to step into the role of ‘caretaker’ but was told it would be a ‘four-month job' with a strict mandate
But others have simply decided her time is up and have spent the last three days plotting how to oust her.
A senior Downing Street source told this newspaper: ‘Discussions about the Prime Minister’s future are ongoing.’
On Friday evening, David Lidington, the pro-EU Cabinet Office boss and de facto deputy PM, was said to be in the ‘advanced stages’ of a plot to force Mrs May from office and herald a long Brexit extension as an interim leader who could build a cross-party Brexit deal.
But as news of the plan leaked, it sparked a furious Cabinet backlash that saw Michael Gove emerge as a ‘consensus’ candidate who could bring the crucial backing of both Remainers and Brexiteers.
Cabinet sources have told The Mail on Sunday that Mr Lidington was initially ‘reluctant’ to step into the role of ‘caretaker’ but was told it would be a ‘four-month job with a three-pronged mandate: to negotiate a long extension, to oversee testing of what Parliament wants and to ensure a fair Tory leadership contest.’
A source said: ‘David is 60. It would be his last job in politics and what a way to go out. The key players are on board. It’s just a matter of when.’
The Mail on Sunday has learnt that Cabinet big beasts including Amber Rudd and Jeremy Hunt have urged Mr Lidington to ‘knock on the door and call time’ on Mrs May’s premiership.
The Mail on Sunday has learnt that Cabinet big beasts including Amber Rudd and Jeremy Hunt have urged Mr Lidington to ‘knock on the door and call time’ on Mrs May’s premiership
In the febrile atmosphere in Westminster, there were even claims Michael Gove had initially supported Mr Lidington acting as caretaker, with one source claiming the plot was ‘far less factional than Brexit lines’.
However, as word of Mr Lidington’s manoeuvrings ripped through Westminster on Friday evening, Brexiteer Ministers were quick to brand the Cabinet politicking a ‘Remainer coup’, with former Vote Leave boss Mr Gove touted by Ministers and MPs for the job instead.
One senior Cabinet Minister told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The British public will never forgive us if, in a time of historical crisis, our answer is David Lidington.
‘This is where it is going to get very scary, whatever you think about it.
‘If we do not deliver Brexit, we are so unbelievably f*****, not just as a party or a government, but in a national way. Now is the time to be bold. A customs union is a cop out – it’s the easiest solution for Parliament but the worst solution for the country.
