When the moment she had been dreading finally came, Theresa May raged against the dying of the light.

The Conservative Party’s most powerful backbenchers had just made it clear that her premiership was at its end, but the Prime Minister pleaded with them to be given more time.

Tears welled in her eyes as she made her argument for just a little longer in Downing Street. She dabbed at her nose with a handkerchief. Yet the sympathy and patience of the 1922 Committee had run out.

“She voiced her view about Brexit, which she regards as a debt of honour,” said one of those present. “She was emotional - a lot more emotional than I have ever seen her before.

“There was a bit of tearing but she quickly got back to a strong view about what needs to be done."

What needed to be done, however, was for her to leave Number 10 within the next six weeks, and preferably sooner.

“It was a very frank discussion,” Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee said later, confirming, in his own understated way, just how much tension was in the room. “I tried to make sure that all the views represented on the executive were expressed and we had a very frank exchange with the Prime Minister."