What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Theresa May is clinging on to power despite her own ministers apparently plotting a coup to remove her from Number 10.

The PM has reportedly been told support from her top team is "ebbing away".

But it's been reported that she is refusing to take meetings with her own ministers this evening.

Former Welfare Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “The sofa is up against the door, she’s not leaving”.

Meanwhile, the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs was meeting in Parliament to decide whether to change party rules to allow them to vote to oust her.

But Chief Whip Julian Smith is understood to have told the committee the PM is going nowhere.

David Mundell, the Scots Secretary, was understood to acting alone rather than as part of a group of Cabinet ministers who are rumoured to be plotting a coup.

But the loyalist’s request prompted immediate speculation that he could be about to break the news gently to the PM that her time was up - as Ken Clarke did with Margaret Thatcher.

And the Mirror understands Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the current frontrunner among MPs to replace Mrs May, is also heading to Number 10 this afternoon for a "recently scheduled" meeting.

(Image: Getty Images)

(Image: VICKIE FLORES/EPA-EFE/REX)

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is also understood to have asked for a meeting with the PM.

Labour Party Chairman Ian Lavery said: "This chaos is a symptom of a Tory Party in freefall and a government that has lost all ability and authority to govern.

"The country cannot take any more of this. Theresa May needs to go and we must have a General Election to sort out this mess."

It comes amid claims that a group of Brexit -backing Cabinet ministers were this afternoon discussing sending a delegation to tell Mrs May that she should resign after unveiling her “bold, new” Brexit offer to MPs.

Cabinet discontent at the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill - which included promises of votes on a second referendum and a customs union - was bubbling over with Westminster awash with rumours about an imminent coup.

One Cabinet minister told the Mirror: “Things are moving fast”.

There will be a meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 committee this afternoon where disgruntled MPs are expected to argue for changing party rules to allow a further no confidence vote in the PM.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

The Commons rises for the Whitsun recess tomorrow and MPs won’t return to Westminster until the first week of June, when Mrs May has promised to give them a vote on her Brexit bill.

One cabinet source told the Mirror: “If you don’t do it today, she’s safe for two weeks.”

At least four Cabinet ministers were said to be in talks about asking the PM to step down after her attempt to get cross-party backing hit a wall of opposition.

Environment secretary Michael Gove suggested this morning that the crunch vote on the WAB should be pulled.

“I think we will reflect over the course of the next few days on how people look at the proposition that has been put forward,” he said.

Several of his Cabinet colleagues - thought to include Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Chief Secretary Liz Truss and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox - are believed to agree that the key bill should be held back for a new leader to push through.

If the bill falls under Mrs May, her successor would have to introduce a Queen’s Speech to bring it back. If that failed to pass, they would have to call a general election.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Even Mrs May’s closest allies admit it would be impossible for her to go back to Brussels to ask for more concessions.

One Downing Street insider said: “I don’t see how this PM can do it. She’s already tried three times. She signed up to this deal.”

However, one ally of Mr Mundell played down expectations that he would be asking her to stand down.

“Everybody knows the game is up but I don’t think he’s gone in there to deliver the coup de grace,” they said.

(Image: PA)

Other allies said he was seeking clarity on the PM’s position on a second referendum amid concern over a second Scots independence vote.

Earlier, Tory MPs greeted Mrs May’s arrival at Prime Minister’s Questions in silence.

Her frontbench was virtually empty of Brexiteers with only Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt present - and Mrs Leadsom arriving late.

The PM was spotted being driven out of the Commons after her Brexit statement and is understood to be working in No 10 this afternoon.

Her speech yesterday telling MPs that her WAB was her “last chance” to deliver Brexit was met with fury by Tory MPs and the numbers in Parliament appeared increasingly stacked against her.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is focused on the job in hand and what the last 24 hours have proved are that it’s a big one. We’ve got a job of work to do and that won’t be easy.”

The Tories are also expecting a drubbing in tomorrow’s European elections, with speculation that the result could fall below 10%.