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Theresa May has called a press conference on one of her most tumultuous days as prime minister.

The PM will speak to the media at 5pm following a series of ministerial resignations and a furious response from Tory MPs to her deal to leave the EU.

It comes with her leadership under threat as the threshold of 48 letters required to trigger a confidence vote draws close.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the influential eurosceptic, earlier asked Mrs May to her face why he should not send one - and later confirmed he was doing so.

He went on to say that what had been achieved was "not Brexit."

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, the man the prime minister appointed to reassure Brexiteers, quit his post saying he could not “in good conscience” endorse a deal that broke promises to voters.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey also resigned, along with Brexit Minister Suella Braverman, Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara and ministerial aides Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ranil Jayawardena.

At least two more major cabinet resignations looked possible. Michael Gove was said by MPs to have rejected an offer of the post of Brexit Secretary.

Sources close to the Environment Secretary were unable to say if he was staying or going after reading the document in full overnight.

Another cabinet minister, Penny Mordaunt, was visibly agonising over whether to resign as she made an appearance for questions in the House.

Mrs May made a dignified statement in the Commons promoting her withdrawal agreement.

She told MPs: “The choice is clear. We can choose to leave with no deal. We can risk no Brexit at all. Or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated: This deal.”

Mr Rees-Mogg, the leader of the European Research Group (ERG), then gathered his troops in Committee Room 10 in the Palace of Westminster.

News emerged that he would indeed send a letter demanding a vote of no confidence in Mrs May, something he had hinted at in an exchange with the prime minister in the Commons chamber an hour earlier.

But not all members of the ERG agreed - Sir Edward Leigh departed from the meeting saying there was a "genuine difference of opinion" about whether to support the prime minister's position.

He said he would not be submitting a letter to the powerful backbench 1922 Committee calling for a no confidence vote.

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson remained tight-lipped, refusing to answer questions about whether he would be writing his own letter.

Speaking outside Parliament, Mr Rees-Mogg denied he was attempting a "coup" against Mrs May. He said a coup involved using "illegitimate procedures" to remove someone from office, while he was making use of Conservative Party rules in an "entirely constitutional" way.

"I am not offering my name as leader," he said. "This is nothing to do with the ambition of Brexiteers. It is everything to do with the ambition of Brexit for this country."

Discussing Mrs May's plan, he said: "This is not Brexit. It is a failure of government policy. It needs to be rejected."