Andrea Leadsom refuses to say Theresa May will still be prime minister next week if Brexit deal defeated

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has refused to say that Theresa May will still be prime minister next week, saying: “I don’t do predictions.”

Asked if Ms May would still be the right person to lead the country if her Brexit deal is thrown out by MPs, Ms Leadsom replied: “She certainly is – at the moment.”

The admission of the prime minister’s frailty came as the Commons leader revealed the Brexit legal advice would be published at 11.30am today, after the government was found to be in contempt of parliament.

Ms Leadsom also denied MPs had grabbed the power to block a no-deal Brexit, after a momentous day at Westminster of multiple government defeats.

One saw 26 Tory rebels, led by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, pass a motion that means parliament can help direct what happens next if Ms May's deal is rejected.

It has been widely interpreted as MPs gaining the ability to stop the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal, but Ms Leadsom said: “I can’t see that they do.”

Instead, she argued – as have leading Brexiteers outside the cabinet – that the defeat, because it was a motion and not legislation, is not binding on the government.

“The issue is that the government is committed to leaving the European Union in line with the referendum,” Ms Leadsom told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“Unless the government was to do something different to change tack, or indeed to pass this deal, then we will be leaving the EU on 29 March next year without a deal.”

The comments will anger MPs who believe they have won the right to shape events, because no government can act in defiance of parliament and continue.

Ms Leadsom’s reluctance to back the prime minister reflects the belief of many Tories that she will is too personally associated with the deal to survive a crushing defeat next Tuesday.

Rival camps in the cabinet are expected to start manoeuvring immediately, some pushing for a ‘Norway-plus’ option to keep the UK in the EU single market and customs union.

Ms May has ruled that out, arguing it would involve keeping free movement of EU citizens and fail to deliver the referendum result.

Ms Leadsom also said she was staying in government to make “absolutely sure” that Britain does not end up in the ‘backstop’ to prevent the return of a hard Irish border..

"I am a very strong arch Brexiteer, I genuinely believe that we have a bright future ahead of us when we leave the EU,” she said.

“And so, all the way through, I've had conflicting thoughts and I've had to consider whether I can live with things. But, at the end of the day, this deal is the best combination that we're going to get and so I just urge colleagues to look at it carefully to give it a real chance.”