MPs last night voted to ask for an extension to Article 50, which the PM says could be a short delay until June if Parliament passes her deal - or a much longer one if they reject it a third time.
Her former policy chief George Freeman yesterday became the first MP to break cover and suggest that a promise of her resignation could be the only way to persuade Eurosceptic MPs to back her deal.
The intervention came as ministers piled pressure on Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to tweak his legal advice on the deal in the hope of winning the support of Eurosceptics and the DUP.
Eurosceptic MPs have warned privately for weeks that they could not contemplate allowing the Prime Minister and her chief Brexit adviser Olly Robbins to negotiate the second phase of the Brexit talks which will set the UK's long-term relationship with the EU.
Mr Freeman, once a close ally of Mrs May, yesterday went public with the warning - saying that her only hope of forcing through the deal was to promise that she would then go.
Mr Freeman, a Remainer, said: 'This chaos can't continue. Something has to give. We need an orderly Brexit on March 29. If, to get the votes for that, the PM has to promise that she will go after the Withdrawal Treaty is secure, to allow a new leader to reunite the country and oversee the next stage, she should.'
Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone confirmed to the Daily Mail that a promise from Mrs May to go might persuade him and other Brexiteer MPs to back her deal.
'This is a dreadful deal,' he said. 'At the moment I am a long way from saying I would back it, but I will consider what is brought before Parliament and make a decision.
'There are circumstances where I could consider backing it. If the DUP suddenly said it was fine, that would help. And if the Prime Minister were to say that she would go, say, two months after the Withdrawal Agreement were passed then I and a lot of other people might suddenly be attracted because what is clear is that we need a completely different approach in the second part of the negotiations to the disaster we have had in the first.'
Downing Street yesterday said Mrs May had not discussed her departure.
Brexit is set to be delayed from March 29 after MPs voted 412 to 202 in favour of extending Article 50 last night.
In a stalemate over Brexit, British politicians have chosen to delay it.
After weeks of political gridlock, Parliament voted Thursday to seek to postpone the country’s departure from the European Union, a move that will likely avert a chaotic withdrawal on the scheduled exit date of March 29.
With Brexit due in 15 days and no divorce deal yet approved, the House of Commons voted 413-202 to ask the bloc to put off Britain’s exit until at least June 30. The official result was initially announced as 412-202, but was later amended to 413 in the official voting list.
The vote gives Prime Minister Theresa May some breathing space, but is still humbling for a leader who has spent two years telling Britons they were leaving the bloc on March 29.
Power to approve or reject the extension lies with the EU, which has signaled that it will only allow a delay if Britain either approves a divorce deal or makes a fundamental shift in its approach to Brexit. In a historic irony, almost three years after Britain voted to leave the EU, its future is now in the bloc’s hands.
May was forced to consider a Brexit delay after lawmakers twice rejected her EU divorce deal and also ruled out, in principle, leaving the bloc without an agreement. Withdrawing without a deal could mean major disruptions for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining countries.
By law, Britain will leave the EU on March 29, with or without a deal, unless it cancels Brexit or secures a delay.
Thursday could have been worse for May. Lawmakers rejected an attempt to strip her of control over the Brexit agenda. They defeated by the narrowest of margins — 314-312 — an opposition attempt let Parliament choose an alternative to May’s rejected divorce deal and force the government to negotiate it with the EU.
Lawmakers also voted against holding a second Brexit referendum — at least for now.
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