Theresa May could be prepared to make clear that she will quit No10 within weeks if Tory MPs agree to back her Brexit deal, ministers believe.
Senior Eurosceptic Conservatives are demanding that she names a date for her departure when she appears before the 1922 Committee of backbenchers at 5pm today.
Last night one close ally of the PM told the Mail that they believed she could now agree to leave Downing Street ‘if it were in the national interest and she finally got this thing through’.
However, the ally warned it would be her ‘last move’ and she would only agree to go if it was clear the deal would pass.
Ten Brexiteers, including European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg, have now said they could back the deal if it comes back to the Commons regardless of Mrs May’s intentions.
They fear that moves by former Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Hilary Benn – who have organised a series of indicative votes in the Commons today – will result in a much softer Brexit, a long delay to leaving the EU or no Brexit at all.
But a larger group are holding out until an announcement from the PM of a firm date when she will go.
Behind the scenes, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith was yesterday said to be ‘actively encouraging’ Brexiteer MPs to back the deal on the basis of a discreet promise by Mrs May to go if it passes.
Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay leave Downing Street yesterday
He is thought to have proposed the idea at last weekend’s Chequers summit and told the PM he could deliver 90 per cent of the ERG’s hardline Leavers if she agreed to quit. Mrs May did not rule out the idea but responded sceptically: ‘I’m not sure you can get me the numbers.’
Other senior Eurosceptics want the PM to go public with her promise tonight. It comes amid signs Mrs May could call a third Brexit vote as early as tomorrow if she believes she can get enough support for the Withdrawal Agreement.
Tory Nigel Evans, executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, told the BBC last night: ‘The Prime Minister will be addressing the 1922 tomorrow at 5pm. I am encouraging her in that speech to give the timetable for her departure.
‘A number of Brexiteers are reluctant to support her deal because they think if it gets over the line, she will then say “Look what I’ve achieved – I’m staying”. A number of them want to make absolutely certain she’s nowhere near the negotiating table when we start talking about the future trade relationship with the EU.
‘If the Prime Minister announces a timetable of departure, I think
