Theresa May really is clinging on to power as she heads into Tuesday’s crunch Brexit vote

THERESA May is clinging on to power as she heads into Tuesday’s crunch Brexit vote.

A defeat of 50 votes may allow her to remain in post and head to Brussels on Thursday to gain more concessions from the EU.

But if the total tops 100 a flurry of letters from Tory MPs forcing a vote of no confidence in her is likely to be triggered.

If she doesn’t win the ballot, a party leadership contest will follow.

A humiliating defeat of 150 or 200 votes sees the government in uncharted territory.

Questioning Mrs May’s leadership for the first time, Iain Duncan Smith said it would be a “disaster” if the deal did not pass and she tried to soldier on.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “How the PM responds after the vote matters more than anything else she has done.

“I believe that if the response is, ‘We’ve lost but we will do this all over again’, it will become a leadership issue.”

And Theresa May herself yesterday dropped a hint she could be off if she loses her Brexit vote – saying a Plan B wasn’t a “question for me”.

Asked by the BBC if she had an alternative Brexit plan given the scale of opposition she said: “That question is not for me. That question is for those who say that they want to oppose this deal.”

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