A war of attrition now exists between Theresa May and MPs over her refusal to set out departure timetable

There is now a war of attrition between Theresa May and her own MPs. Most of them want her to set an unconditional timetable for her departure. She is refusing to do so, saying she will only go when her divorce deal with the EU, the Withdrawal Agreement, is law.

The Tory Party is tearing itself apart. Her refusal to quit is much more extraordinary than when Jeremy Corbyn refused to go after losing the support of his MPs - because he was still backed by Labour members - whereas Tory party chairmen have actually convened an extraordinary meeting in mid-June to vote on a motion calling for her to go. The anger and incredulity from Tory MPs at what they see as her attack on their party is quite something.

Adding to Tory MPs’ fury with Theresa May is this attached electoral communication from the Conservative Party which they see as an attack on those Tory Brexiter MPs who have failed to vote for May’s Brexit deal.

It calls on voters to “find out” if their MP has backed her Brexit plan by clicking on http://www.backthebrexitdeal.com - an official Tory website. This looks like official CCHQ incitement to Tory members to deselect Tory MPs who opposed the PM’s deal - but could massively backfire since so many Tory members hate that deal.