Theresa May UK prime minister vows to resign before next phase of Brexit if deal is passed PM says she will not stand in way of desire for new approach but DUP remains opposed to deal BrexitAll eight indicative vote options defeated by MPs – live May's uphill battleDUP and ERG 'Spartans' to vote against deal Opinion Farewell to the worst PM bar none – until the next one

Theresa May UK prime minister vows to resign before next phase of Brexit if deal is passed

PM says she will not stand in way of desire for new approach but DUP remains opposed to deal

• BrexitAll eight indicative vote options defeated by MPs – live

• May's uphill battleDUP and ERG 'Spartans' to vote against deal

• OpinionFarewell to the worst PM bar none – until the next one

Theresa May has played her final desperate card to tame Brexit rebels in her warring party, by promising to sacrifice her premiership if they back her twice-rejected Brexit deal.

The beleaguered prime minister, whose authority has been shattered by the double defeat of her deal and a stream of resignations, made the high-stakes offer to Tory backbenchers at a packed meeting in Westminster.

“I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party. I know there is a desire for a new approach – and new leadership – in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations – and I won’t stand in the way of that,” she told the backbench 1922 Committee.

“I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party,” she said.

May’s frantic pledge came on another dramatic day in Westminster, as:

• Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith led a stream of Eurosceptics to support the deal.

• MPs rejected every one of the eight alternatives to May’s deal debated in a day-long process of “indicative votes”.

Labour’s divisions on Brexit were exposed, as three shadow ministers defied the whip to resist backing a second referendum.

• The DUP threw May’s chances of getting her deal through parliament into doubt by saying its MPs would not support it.

The prime minister had hoped to remain in 10 Downing Street after exit day, and build a legacy that extended beyond the humiliations of the Brexit talks, to domestic policy.

But if the withdrawal agreement is passed and Britain leaves the EU in eight weeks’ time, she could now be gone before the summer – after less than two years in the top job.

Ministers now hope to make a third attempt to ram May’s deal through the House of Commons on Friday – though their prospects of success were thrown into doubt after the DUP said its 10 MPs would vote against.

May had been under intense pressure to set out a timetable for her departure, as the leave-supporting wing of her party continued to resist supporting her deal – which was defeated by a majority of 149 earlier this month.

Outside the 1922 meeting, the Tory MP Simon Hart, who leads the Brexit Delivery Group, said: “She made it very clear: I want the next prime minister to be one of the colleagues in there tonight, not down the corridor at the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] meeting.”

The response from MPs was “respectful recognition for her hard work and service, not celebration”, he said.

Several of the most determined Brexit holdouts, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Iain Duncan Smith and Boris Johnson, were invited to the prime minister’s country retreat of Chequers on Sunday.

They denied that any pact about her departure had been made; but just minutes after May’s emotional promise, Johnson told colleagues at the European Research Group (ERG) that he would now support the deal, saying the next phase of talks would have to have a “change of tone and mandate”.

Rees-Mogg had already suggested he could vote for it, fearing that the takeover of parliament in which backbenchers spent Wednesday debating proposals for softening or reversing Brexit meant May’s deal was now the only way of ensuring Britain left the EU.

Rees-Mogg said that if the deal did not pass, “she would have every right to carry on”.

Three ministers resigned on Monday to back an amendment tabled by a cross-bench group of MPs led by the Tory former minister Oliver Letwin, that cleared the parliamentary timetable on Wednesday – and next Monday – to test the backing for alternatives to the prime minister’s deal.

Letwin said it was “a great matter of disappointment” that no majority had emerged for any of the eight options debated. He said another set of votes would be held on Monday – but he hoped May’s deal would be accepted before then.

Although all eight were voted down, both a confirmatory referendum and a customs union won more votes than the 242 the prime minister’s deal received at the second meaningful vote earlier this month.

The government had tried and failed to prevent the indicative votes process taking place at all, by whipping MPs to reject the business motion kicking off the debate.

EU27 leaders granted Britain a delay to Brexit to 22 May in Brussels last week – but only if May’s deal wins the support of parliament this week. Downing Street suggested that a leadership contest could kick off soon afterwards, but only if her deal was passed.

If it is not supported this week, the prime minister must return to Brussels before 12 April to set out what she plans to do next – and potentially request a longer extension.

Ministers signalled that they would now hold an extra parliamentary session on Friday, in the hope of winning a third “meaningful vote” – if they can persuade enough Tory rebels to switch sides.

The Speaker, John Bercow, stressed on Wednesday that he would not allow the government to table the same deal for a third meaningful vote.

But ministers were considering plans to hold the first reading of the withdrawal agreement bill – giving MPs a vote on the flagship bill implementing the deal, rather than a similar motion.

May had already reassured colleagues that she would not fight the 2022 general election – the next date on which a contest is due – as she fought to overturn a vote of no confidence in her leadership last December.

And she had been widely expected to face a fresh challenge once the year-long breathing space she secured by winning that vote had expired.

Several cabinet ministers and a clutch of backbenchers have been making thinly disguised pitches for the premiership in recent months, with collective responsibility all but breaking down as rival contenders ensure their views become known.

The frontrunners will be Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove, but there is likely to be a wide range of candidates.

Brexit: all eight indicative vote options defeated by MPs - live news

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The chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, said: “The prime minister gave a dignified and honest speech at the 1922. She cares deeply about our country and is a patriot. People must now support the deal and move us forward.”

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Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, responded to her promised departure by calling for a general election. “Theresa May’s pledge to Tory MPs to stand down if they vote for her deal shows once and for all that her chaotic Brexit negotiations have been about party management, not principles or the public interest. A change of government can’t be a Tory stitch-up – the people must decide,” he said.

Rees-Mogg, who has been hosting dinners at his Westminster house for backbenchers on behalf of Johnson, declined to say whom he would back in the leadership contest, saying: “The great joy of the Tory party is that it has so many talented people in it. It’s like finding a fast bowler in Yorkshire.”
A clear majority of Eurosceptics are now expected to get on board, but some Conservative MPs, such as Steve Baker, Bill Cash and Andrea Jenkyns, have so far been vocal about their intention never to back the deal.

MPs will narrow what is expected to be a wide field of candidates for leader down to a pair of contenders, and party members will make the final choice.

Who will be in the running to replace Theresa May?

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