Jacob Rees-Mogg denied on Thursday that he was mounting a “coup” against Theresa May as he called for her to quit.

The chairman of the European Research Group said he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mrs May in a press conference outside Parliament as the Prime Minister was defending her deal in the House of Commons.

It came at the end of a dramatic morning when four ministers – including the Brexit secretary Dominic Raab - two ministerial aides and a party vice chairman quit over Mrs May’s Brexit deal.

For many observers it marked the day the dam broke in Westminster for dozens of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs who had been fiercely critical of Mrs May’s Brexit policy in private finally vented their fury.

In the hours after Mr Rees-Mogg spoke out another three letters of no confidence were submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 committee, by Tory MPs Henry Smith, Sheryll Murray and Lee Rowley.

ERG sources said they expect the threshold of 48 letters of no confidence to be passed as early as Friday, triggering a vote on Mrs May's future as early as Monday.