An explosive internal memo suggesting Theresa May will be forced to “stand down soon after March 2019” and detailing the pros and cons of her potential successors has been leaked to The Telegraph.

The excruciating dossier is being widely circulated among Tory MPs and analyses the leadership prospects of her cabinet colleagues and other contenders, including leading Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

It emerged as Mrs May is desperately trying to sell her widely criticised Chequers plan to EU leaders in Salzburg on Wednesday evening.

As a sign of the growing mutiny within the Tory party, MPs have been sharing the memo between themselves as they continue to openly discuss the Prime Minister's replacement on WhatsApp.

Written in April but re-circulated in recent days, the dossier - believed to have been authored by a Tory MP - is based on the “assumption” that the 1922 backbench committee will “invite the PM to stand-down soon(ish) after March 2019”.

Advising colleagues to “manoeuver [sic] immediately”, it provides an unflinching assessment of 27 of Mrs May’s potential successors, describing Environment Secretary Michael Gove as being “on manoeuvres”, Chancellor Philip Hammond as “thinking he has a chance” but “not a hope” and Trade Secretary Liam Fox as “fading”.