British Prime Minister Theresa May | Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images | Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Battered and bruised, Theresa May limps into enemy territory The only thing keeping the British PM in power is Brexit. It could also be what finishes her off.

LONDON — Theresa May arrives in Brussels Thursday as a caretaker prime minister in all but name — unable to govern but trapped in office.

After two weeks of crisis management following the botched general election, she remains in place, limping on to see through the hard Brexit most of her party members demand and fear is in jeopardy should they get rid of her too quickly, opening the door for Labour to take power.

“We will hold it together and must do otherwise it’ll all disintegrate,” one government minister told POLITICO, expressing the sentiment of many in his party.

Brexit is the one issue keeping her in place — and yet it is also the noose around her neck, strangling the lifeblood from her government.

In the queen’s speech setting out the government's policy agenda Wednesday, much of the prime minister's planned legislative program as outlined in the Conservative Party manifesto was either ditched or kicked into the long grass. The bulk of what remained was all about Brexit.

Senior MPs and Conservative aides who spoke to POLITICO said without Britain’s impending departure from the EU May would now be gone, having lost her parliamentary majority and mandate to pass any meaningful domestic legislation.

"This country is f--ked" — A senior Tory

Such is the scale of the challenge that Brexit poses, it is also the issue which could see May removed from power at any moment. This forces her to stick to her hard Brexit vision but also find compromise with soft Brexit colleagues who she'll need in order to pass the legislation to successfully navigate Britain’s departure.

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, May set out in detail the scale of the task facing her.

She must pass eight separate pieces of Brexit legislation, any of which could be defeated.

Before that, she needs to pass the queen’s speech itself — an effective vote of confidence in her government — next week.

Another government minister said: “If the queen’s speech vote goes our way then there will be no challenge. The ball is in her court. She could decide to walk away, but when she said she wanted to get us out of this mess, I think she meant it. Her Anglican sense of duty is very strong.”

Should she survive the queen’s speech vote next week, her next major test will be the “Repeal Bill,” without which there can be no Brexit. The bill repeals the act of parliament which gives EU law its legal status in Britain. It also downloads the entire body of EU law onto the U.K. statute book.

Should this be shot down, May will not be able to survive — and that’s before she tries to pass separate immigration, customs, trade, agriculture, fisheries and nuclear bills required to avoid legal chaos after Brexit.

Adding a further layer of complexity, the prime minister revealed to MPs Wednesday that part of the Repeal Bill may need the approval of the Scottish parliament. “It’s possible that a legislative consent motion will be required in the Scottish parliament,” she said. It’s hard to see Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon not making hay with that.

Waiting in the wings

Such is the precariousness of May’s situation that any of her top team of ministers could oust her with one well-timed public intervention. “If DD [Brexit Secretary David Davis] said her lack of authority was stopping him negotiating Brexit she would be gone in minutes and he would be PM,” one senior former government aide said on condition of anonymity.

And yet, for now, she has the job no one wants — or, at least, can be seen to want. An uneasy peace has broken out among the big beasts in cabinet. Chancellor Philip Hammond enjoys more power than at any moment of May’s premiership to date — it's unlikely he would win the leadership but he cannot be sacked.

Hammond is determined to use his newfound influence to shape Brexit — softening it at the edges with a long, smooth transition to an eventual clean break.

He used to be stopped from putting his concerns to May by her now departed chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, according to one senior former government aide who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity. His “negativity” riled the pair, who blocked him from making explicit warnings to the PM about the dangers of a hard Brexit.

Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson are favorites to land the job should May go but realize they cannot be seen to be the ones to make the first move. “Boris wants it, obviously, but doesn’t want to do all the hard work first. He wants to come in after Brexit with all the pizzazz,” said one Tory MP who did not want to be named.

Clinging to Brexit

So May limps on, trying to avoid the next crisis and playing for time. Providing she can overcome the string of parliamentary and diplomatic hurdles in her path she could hold on for sometime, as Britain sinks into the legislative mire of Brexit.

But it's a weakness that saw the government compromise straight out of the blocks on Monday, accepting the EU’s step-by-step agenda after months of insisting there had to be parallel talks on the future trading relationship as well as the divorce. May is expected to set out her proposal on citizens’ rights — the first issue in the negotiations — over dinner with the other EU27 leaders Thursday but they are not expected to enter into any discussion.

After a desperate fortnight in office, May has survived and travels to Brussels after a performance in the Commons Wednesday which won admiration among her colleagues — joking with opponents, praising colleagues and taking regular interventions across the house in a sign of a changed, more open style of government.

Tory MP Julian Knight — critical of May's performance during the election — said it was “the most polished performance by the PM in months.”

But she also cut a depleted figure.

Labour MP Wes Streeting gave the most brutal of many brutal put-downs during the debate on the queen’s speech. "She asked for a personal mandate in the election and didn't get one,” he said to cheers. “The only question is, why is she still here?"

May had earlier been cheered to the rafters by her MPs — but perhaps a little too fulsomely. Labour MPs’ cries of “resign!” appeared more heartfelt.

The faces of the prime minister’s frontbench colleagues were certainly glum throughout, watching on as she apologized for her own response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Two months earlier the Tories were heading for a landslide and relished the prospect of a generation in power. Now they were forced to endure the spectacle of an opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, long derided as a left-wing throwback, with his tail up.

Whitehall aides believe a crunch is coming — either for May or the Tory Party after they have got rid of her.

"This country is f--ked," one senior Tory said. "We are tethered to the mast of Brexit and when it goes wrong we're screwed. They all know it. All Labour have to do is hedge their bets. When the public realize they have been sold a pup they will turn on the party.”