LONDON — When the firestorm surrounding Prime Minister Theresa May and her plan for Britain’s exit from the European Union had quieted a little, the country’s political class finally had time to focus on the thing it really likes: plotting.

In a secret location, the chairman of a panel called the 1922 Committee was collecting poison-pen letters from rebels within Mrs. May’s Conservative party, calling for her to be removed as leader.

The number of letters is secret except to the chairman, Graham Brady, but once their number reaches 48, the committee — also known as “the men in gray suits” — can demand a vote of all 315 Conservative members of Parliament. If she doesn’t win half the votes, she will be forced to resign.

This is the way political death comes in Britain, speedily and stealthily.

On Friday, because no one knew how many letters were in, the 24-hour news cycle gave itself over to innuendo, whisper, rumor and speculation about an arcane procedure few Britons understand.