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It is not David Davis or Boris Johnson that Theresa May fears the most. It’s her old rival Andrea Leadsom .

The PM knows what DD and Boris are up to. The Brexit Secretary and Foreign Secretary want her job and make no secret of it.

Mrs Leadsom is a stealth fighter. If she is gathering support to launch a second bid to oust her in a leadership contest, she is going about it quietly.

So quietly, Mrs May’s early warning system in the Tory whips office is struggling to pick it up on their radar.

A top Tory source told the Sunday People the Commons leader has not given up on her No10 ambitions.

(Image: AFP)

The source added: “Don’t write off Andrea. If the PM goes down, she’s waiting in the wings to pounce.

“She won’t launch a challenge ­herself but she’ll be in there if there

is one.”

The Prime Minister is now getting to know what it must have felt to be Julius Caesar. The knives are out for her. The Roman dictator was warned he would meet a sticky end on the Ides of March in 44BC.

And sure enough, at a meeting of the senate on that day, March 15, 60 conspirators assassinated him.

But he was surprised at his old friend Brutus being one of them. Fast forward 2,000 years and for Brutus, read Andrea Leadsom – who has her own grievances with the PM.

Conservative Party darling Boris Johnson is now wounded after a series of gaffes, the latest at the Tory conference in Manchester last week when he suggested Sirte in Libya could become another Dubai once the dead bodies were cleared away.

(Image: Daily Mirror) (Image: Daily Mirror)

His audience took a sharp intake of breath at the tastelessness of the remark and Tory MPs called for his sacking.

But Britain’s top diplomat is incapable of diplomacy. On a trip to Myanmar, he was ticked off by the UK ambassador for inappropriately reciting Rudyard Kipling in praise of British colonialism.

Brexit Secretary David Davis has his supporters but detractors say he is the only Cabinet minister who can swagger sitting down. They believe he thinks too much of himself and would be even more insufferable in the top job.

That gives Mrs Leadsom the chance to wave her strong Brexit credentials and come through the middle as a compromise candidate.

Mrs Leadsom, 54, received the support of 66 MPs and came second to Mrs May in the first round of voting in the July 2016 leadership battle.

But after widespread revulsion at comments made by the mother of three about Mrs May being childless, her campaign imploded.

On becoming PM, Mrs May made Mrs Leadsom Environment Secretary but demoted her to Leader of the House in this year’s June reshuffle.

In an interview with the UK edition of American website Business Insider before Mrs May’s ­conference speech meltdown, Mrs Leadsom did not rule out another tilt at the leadership.

She said: “Anything can happen. But I’m behind Theresa May for as long as she wants and intends to remain PM.”

The PM yesterday tried to reassert her authority by stripping two Tory MEPs of the Tory whip in the European Parliament.

The South West’s Julie Girling and South East’s Richard Ashworth were suspended for backing a Strasbourg ­resolution to block Brexit talks.

And Mrs May might even to try to show who wears the trouser suits in her Cabinet by reshuffling them, even though that risks making more enemies.

(Image: Getty)

Rebel leader Grant Shapps is this weekend desperately trying to gather more signatures to topple Mrs May to add to the 30 he claims to already have.

It requires 48 MPs to trigger a contest but after chief whip Gavin Williamson masterminded the outing of the former party chairman as leading conspirator, the plotters began melting away.

Tory MP Nigel Evans said he would be surprised if Mr Shapps has more than eight names now.

He added: “This is more a tantrum than a plot. Grant is just upset the PM doesn’t appreciate his greatness.

“The whips did an amazing job to flush him out and he fell into their trap.”

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Mr Shapps was only added to the Tory MPs’ WhatsApp group so they could cyberbully him with insults.

Mr Williamson, 41, who keeps a tarantula in his office to scare Tory MPs, is himself being touted by some as leader. But he is a backroom boy and others worry about his ability to handle front of House.

But a leading rebel told the Sunday People that Mr Williamson’s actions

make a leadership contest more likely, not less.

The source said Mr Shapps has considerable support and had hoped to lead a delegation to Downing Street to discuss Mrs May’s ­departure date.

Among those known to be unhappy with Mrs May are former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, ex-Industry Minister Anna Soubry and former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

But Mr Shapps’ outing as the ringleader of the plot was a deliberate attempt by the chief whip to prevent that showdown ­taking place.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The rebel said: “We were trying to have a conversation with the PM. But now our only option is to put letters in for a contest.

“Some of us were happy for Mrs May to conclude Brexit and then go to 2019.

“Others feel a ­wounded leader will not be able to negotiate Brexit ­successfully and she should go by the end of the year.”

Another rebel MP said: “The PM is not in a good place. People are worried about the state of mind that she’s in.

“There’s no question that she is going to go – it’s just when.”

But a Whitehall insider predicted: “There’s now blood in the water.

“If the PM sees off this coup, another will follow.

“Shapps is the worst person to front this because he’s so unpopular and the whips know that.”

A Tory MP agreed: “The PM could have put any question of leadership ­challenges away at last week’s conference.

“It didn’t go like that and the rebels are not going to stop now.”

So for embattled Theresa May, every day will be the Ides of March.