Theresa May's day of disaster hour by hour by Jack Doyle

If Theresa May's 'New Deal' on Brexit wasn't dead on arrival on Tuesday night, by yesterday morning Westminster was already reading it the last rites.

The morning's newspaper headlines were bleak, as Tory MPs reacted with undisguised fury to the Prime Minister's offer to Labour of a vote on a second referendum, as well as concessions on a customs union and employment rights.

And the count of those declaring their intention to vote against the Withdrawal Bill was ticking up. 

By 9am it stood at 65 – more than double the number who voted against Mrs May's deal last time. And as the hours passed the numbers continued to rise.

A bleary-eyed Theresa May was driven away from Parliament after facing a brutal session of Brexit questions in the Commons chamber this afternoon

A bleary-eyed Theresa May was driven away from Parliament after facing a brutal session of Brexit questions in the Commons chamber this afternoon

On the Today programme, Michael Gove refused to say when the Bill would come before the House, instead saying ministers would 'reflect over the next few days' on timing.

But privately, Cabinet ministers accepted it was all over. By mid-morning, one Cabinet source had already told the Mail: 'Everyone knows her time is up. She'll try to get through today. 

'They need to work out where they are from here, which is nowhere.'

Not everyone in No 10 had got the message. Downing Street Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell invited Labour MPs to a meeting in the Commons with the intention of urging them to back the Bill.

With the Tory vote collapsing, he needed around 70 Labour votes. Just 12 MPs even bothered to turn up.

At Prime Ministers' Questions in the Commons, Mrs May did her best, as Jeremy Corbyn taunted her that she had presented a 'repackaged version of her three times rejected deal'.

The only sign she was resigned to her fate was when she acknowledged: 'In time, another prime minister will be standing at this despatch box.'

Mrs May is pictured shouting across the dispatch box today while her cabinet colleagues Philip Hammond and David Lidington talk amongst themselves

Mrs May is pictured shouting across the dispatch box today while her cabinet colleagues Philip Hammond and David Lidington talk amongst themselves 

At Prime Ministers' Questions in the Commons, the only sign Mrs May was resigned to her fate was when she acknowledged: 'In time, another prime minister will be standing at this despatch box.'

At Prime Ministers' Questions in the Commons, the only sign Mrs May was resigned to her fate was when she acknowledged: 'In time, another prime minister will be standing at this despatch box.'

Loyalists cheered her, but there were few of them: the Tory benches were a sea of green leather.

One who was present was Mark Francois, arch-critic of Mrs May and vice chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs.

At one point he gestured to the press gallery above the Speaker's Chair where journalists sit and, like a pantomime villain, pulled his finger across his throat like a knife. The message was clear.

Senior ministers were also conspicuously absent from the chamber, but behind the scenes they were venting their fury – triggering a dramatic few hours that would effectively seal the Prime Minister's fate.

Attendance at the so-called 'Pizza Club' meeting of Tory Brexiteers, hosted by Andrea Leadsom in her Commons office, was higher than usual and included Michael Gove, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

Among some ministers, particularly Home Secretary Sajid Javid, there was particular unhappiness about Mrs May's statement on Tuesday. 

Andrea Leadsom (pictured) quit early in the evening with a vicious swipe at Remainer ministers, writes Jack Doyle

Andrea Leadsom (pictured) quit early in the evening with a vicious swipe at Remainer ministers, writes Jack Doyle 

Allies claim he believed the vote on a second referendum was going to be taken out of the Bill entirely following a backlash at Cabinet. 

This was furiously denied by No 10. One source said: 'they knew exactly what they signed up to'.

At around 2pm, officials in Mr Javid's private office asked for a meeting with the PM, to ask her expressly to remove the second referendum clauses. No response was received by the end of the day.

One ally accused Mrs May of being 'unbelievably tone deaf'.

'If this was designed to bring Labour votes, at what point from when she made the statement is there any indication that those numbers are going to come?'

'We are tearing the party apart for no reason, because there aren't the Labour MPs to vote this through'. 

Jeremy Hunt, similarly, was requesting a meeting with Mrs May to express his grave reservations about the Bill. His meeting with Mrs May was arranged, and then cancelled.

But the most agitated minister of all was softly spoken Scottish

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