Theresa May held a Cabinet meeting with her most senior ministers today in the wake of a decision by the Commons Speaker to block her from bringing back her deal for another vote unless it has been changed.

But despite facing an even more difficult battle than she did a few days ago, the prime minister chose not to set out her plan for a way through the Brexit crisis, instead calmly walking ministers through the options without making a decision either way.

Cabinet is where decisions are made after all, and ministers had been expecting to come to a conclusion on what to do next - to extend Article 50 and if so for how long, to take the argument to John Bercow and push for a vote this week anyway, or the nuclear option - prorogue parliament.

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Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, did a whole media round this morning telling journalists that Cabinet would meet to decide on the reason for the extension.

Perhaps someone changed their mind and forgot to let him know.


Instead, Mrs May calmly explained the government can ask for either a short or a long extension, the former to allow time to get her deal through Parliament and the latter to have a rethink and come up with something else.

Either way the EU would have to agree.

If ministers were waiting for her to explain her final decision, the moment never came.

Instead she moved on to allow her Cabinet ministers to speak, each one setting out their thoughts on what the next steps should be.

Image: About the only thing they all agreed on was how wrong the Speaker was

A number of pro-Brexit ministers made clear that no deal should remain an option and a long Article 50 extension would not be acceptable.

One said the discussion focused on the prospect of asking for a longer extension, perhaps nine months, but then aiming to be out of the EU by the end of June by agreeing Mrs May's Brexit deal with parliament much sooner.

Ministers discussed how existing EU rules would allow this to happen, but a deal would need to be agreed before 12 April, the cut-off date for the EU elections which the UK would have to be part of if it remained a member beyond the end of June.

About the only thing they all agreed on was how wrong the Speaker was to refuse to allow a third so-called meaningful vote to be brought before MPs.

Another Cabinet minister said the mood was an odd one, adding that Andrea Leadsom spoke early in the discussion, but then made the unusual move of asking to speak again before "losing her rag" with those around the table.

The leader of the Commons, who clashed with Mr Bercow yesterday, told her fellow ministers "This used to be the Cabinet that would deliver Brexit, now from what I'm hearing it's not".

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Tensions are running high at the heart of government and ministers feel they are being shut out of decisions which concern them. Resignations could follow from either side.

A spokesman for the prime minister confirmed her letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, asking for an extension to allow more time to agree a deal, would be the view of the government and therefore binding on all those who count themselves part of it.

Except none of them know what the letter will say, and so can't possibly have signed it off.

Image: The PM is due to write to Donald Tusk to ask for an extension

The fact that it has now become so normal for the Cabinet to function in this way says much about the state of Cabinet government.

The truth is the prime minister can no longer trust her senior team, and details of the most important meeting in Whitehall leaks to the media barely minutes after Cabinet ends each week.

With her relationship with the EU balanced on a knife edge, is it any wonder Mrs May chooses to keep the contents of her letter to herself, rather than risk the media reporting what it says before the intended recipient opens the envelope?

Elsewhere, the mood among Brexiteers is hardening and some believe a longer extension to Article 50 could work in their favour by forcing the prime minister out of office and allowing someone else to renegotiate the deal.

Image: Some believe a long delay to Brexit could force Mrs May out of office

Others warn an extension longer than a few months would be the end of Mrs May's time in office.

Two sources said the number of Conservatives who will refuse to back her deal at any cost is now as high as 30, although one of that number said if she offered to leave within a few months that would be enough to secure their support.

Find one voice claiming one thing, and you can walk straight up to another saying the exact opposite just a minute later. Whatever Mrs May decides to ask the EU for, parliament is dazed and confused about what happens next.

The prime minister is meeting her staunchest critics including Boris Johnson in Downing Street today. Dominic Raab was called into Number 10 this afternoon only to see his meeting cancelled at the last minute when the chief whip went in instead.

Talks with the DUP continue but without Arlene Foster in London it looks like a deal isn't about to be announced.

It will all come down to numbers, but with the Brexit story shifting every half an hour all MPs and ministers can do is watch and wait, hoping that a way through the deadlock emerges before it is too late.