As a former cheerleader for Leave, it is hardly surprising that Tory Eurosceptics should be directing so much anger at Michael Gove right now.

By accusing the European Research Group (ERG) of thwarting Brexit by voting down Mrs May’s deal, the Environment Secretary appears to have sounded the death knell on his leadership hopes.

As one irate backbencher told the Telegraph: “Like Mrs May’s deal, Michael is a dead duck, a lost cause. He’s played fast and loose and now he’s completely discredited.”

Far from believing that they have risked a softer Brexit or even no Brexit at all by voting down the withdrawal agreement, ERG members think they have done the Prime Minister a favour by finally giving her the leverage she needs to re-negotiate with Brussels.

Indeed, so emboldened are they by the fact no less than 118 Tory MPs rebelled that they are now describing ERG thinking as “the mainstream”. As ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg put it: "The pro-Europeans consist of 20 MPs at the most - as Tuesday's vote proved, we are 111 - we are the heart and soul of the party. Rather than trying to appeal to Labour, Mrs May should be winning round her own backbenchers."