Blue-on-blue infighting spilled out of Westminster and into the Tory shires on Wednesday as calls for the Prime Minister’s resignation intensified following her bombshell Brexit u-turn.

Having been expected to back no deal following Tuesday’s marathon seven hour cabinet meeting, Theresa May incurred the wrath of her MPs and Tory voters by opting instead to extend Article 50 while seeking a customs union compromise with Jeremy Corbyn.

Within minutes of making the 6pm statement from Downing Street, Conservative MPs reacted with incredulity, flooding the party’s various WhatsApp groups with expletive-ridden vitriol as a full-scale Tory rebellion was mounted.

One MP said the PM had “gone mad and needs sectioning”. Another implored: “How the hell do we get her to resign?”

Summing up the mood, one MP posted a picture of the Tories’ famous “Coalition of Chaos” poster, with the nostalgic caption: “The good old days”. Having once mocked Corbyn, now the Conservatives appeared to be getting into bed with him.

Such was the anger that one MP even suggested, at a Wednesday evening meeting of the 1922 committee, that Conservative backbenchers should hold an indicative vote on whether to boot out the PM. “Many colleagues are calling for this for the very survival of our party,” the MP insisted. It came after Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns had earlier refused to rule out voting against her own government in another no-confidence motion. 1922 committee chairman Sir Graham Brady later indicated he had no intention of entertaining the idea of an indicative vote - although it did gain traction with one minister. Unsurprisingly, Mrs May swerved the 5pm meeting and sent International Trade Secretary Liam Fox to face the music instead.