LONDON (Reuters) - No one threatened to resign at a meeting of Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet of top ministers during discussions over whether to back a draft deal on Britain’s divorce terms with the European Union, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Asked if anyone had threatened to resign, the official said: “Nobody”. “The PM used the word impassioned for a reason, and clearly there are strongly held views on this subject which we acknowledge.”

May won the backing of her senior ministers for a draft European Union divorce deal on Wednesday, freeing her to tackle the much more perilous struggle of getting parliament to approve the agreement.