Tory rivals for Theresa May's (pictured today in Maidenhead) job were warned to 'get a grip' today after a raft of threats were made against the PM in lurid and violent language

Tory rivals for Theresa May's job were warned to 'get a grip' today after a raft of threats were made against the PM in lurid and violent language.

The Sunday newspapers were overflowing with anonymous claims that the Prime Minister faced a bloody end over her Brexit plans.

She was said to be in a 'killing field', faced 'assassination' and was ordered to 'bring her own noose' to a 'show trial' convened by back-bench Tory MPs.

A former minister is said to have warned the PM she faces being stabbed in the chest with a hot knife - that would then be twisted.

The violent claims about Mrs May's fate come just over two years after MP Jo Cox was assassinated on the streets of her Batley and Spen constituency and amid growing alarm at violent rhetoric in politics.

Former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, a Brexiteer, said the comments about the PM in the newspapers were 'disturbing'.

She told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: 'I think it's really unhelpful. We have got to trust the Prime Minister to do the job on the negotiations.

'I don't think a leadership election would be remotely helpful at this stage and I think it's important for this kind of speculation to stop.'

Asked about comments in the newspapers about Mrs May, Mr Halfon said: 'I say to the people giving those quotes, this is not the way to change things.

'This just confirms what many of the public think of us, that we are all potentially out for ourselves and not on the side of working people.'

SNP leader and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: 'This morning I've seen quotes from Tories to the effect that PM is 'entering the killing zone', faces 'assassination' and should take 'her own noose' to a meeting.

'Few disagree with her more than I do, but language like this debases politics. Get a grip, Tories.'

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemned the violent language and warns it 'debases politics' (pictured is her statement on Twitter today)

Ms Sturgeon (pictured in London earlier this week) said few disagreed with Mrs May more than her but said her Tory critics should 'get a grip'

Labour MP Mary Creagh said: 'Violent dehumanising language of ''lame cockroach'' and ''bring her own noose'' to describe the PM by former Cabinet Minister deeply concerning.

'Brexit is corrupting the norms of public decency and public life.'

Another Labour MP Paula Sherriff tweeted: 'It won't come as a surprise to many that I wholeheartedly disagree with the PM on many things but the language being used across the media, including ''bring a noose'' to the 1922 committee is unnecessary, inappropriate and disturbing.

'It must stop.'

Rank-and-file MPs last night told the Mail on Sunday Mrs May that she was in the 'last chance saloon' and called on her to face them at their 1922 Committee meeting on Wednesday.

She was given the chilling warning that she should 'bring her own noose' to the showdown as rivals step up their campaigns to succeed her in No 10.

Former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers (file image), a Brexiteer, said the comments about the PM in the newspapers were 'disturbing'.

A Cabinet minister told the Sunday Times the PM was 'endangering her own government' by refusing to take a different approach to Brexit.

They said: 'This is the first time I've thought it could fall over. She's not listening. That's kamikaze.'

An ally of David Davis told the paper Mrs May was in the 'the killing zone' while a wannabe leadership candidate said: 'Assassination is in the air.'

A former minister told the same paper Mrs May would be 'dead soon': 'There is a growing consensus that she's utterly hopeless.

'I'm not going to put a letter in but when I find myself in a private polling booth I just cannot see how I would vote for her.

'The moment is coming when the knife gets heated, stuck in her front and twisted.'

Labour MP Mary Creagh slammed the violent metaphors and warned 'Brexit is corrupting the norms of public decency and public life'