Theresa May refuses to give departure date

Theresa May has refused to say when she will stand down as Prime Minister, despite a demand from senior Conservative backbenchers for her to spell out when she will go.

Nonetheless, the race to succeed her is well underway, raising fears among Tory MPs that chasing for votes in a leadership contest will drive candidates to champion the hardest possible Brexit.

But with a majority against that in the Commons, they believe a new Conservative leader could be forced to call a General Election with a hard Brexit as the party’s main policy.