“My expectation is that the number will be reached and there will be a vote at some point,” Crispin Blunt said in an interview in his House of Commons office under a full-size union flag. “One could argue that it would be better that that vote comes after the vote on the deal. If one were to sequence this properly: one would wait until we had the vote on the deal and then have the vote on the prime minister’s position as leader of the Conservative Party.”

Parliament is due to debate May’s Brexit deal in early December, and politicians across the chamber say they will vote it down.

Eoin Treacy's view

Theresa May is surviving for the moment for the simple reason no one else is willing to take the job with so much uncertainty still outstanding. It is politically much more expedient to have May in place so that blame can be heaped on her administration so that whoever takes over will get a chance to start afresh. Therefore, it is very likely that once the bill has been debated in Parliament, and there is greater visibility on which two of the myriad options are most likely to be the outcome, that pressure on May’s ouster will prevail.