Furious Tories are plotting to force out Theresa May by this summer as she stitches up a long delay to Brexit .
The 1922 Committee, which represents Tory MPs, is reportedly working on a timetable for Mrs May to stand down as party leader by May 23.
She would then carry on as Prime Minister for "four to six weeks" while a new Conservative leader is elected by party members, a source told the Telegraph.
At the same time, local Tory associations are preparing to hold votes of no confidence in the PM - with one scheduled in Clwyd South for April 24.
None of the moves would be legally binding, and the PM can't be ousted as party leader formally until December - a year since her last challenge.
But she will come under mounting pressure Brexit: UK poised to ACCEPT year-long delay at EU summit tonight, top Tory hints at an EU summit tonight.
Brexit: UK poised to ACCEPT year-long delay at EU summit tonight, top Tory hints
Brexit: 5 fast facts this morning as Theresa May descends on EU delay summit
Mrs May will ask EU chiefs to delay Brexit until June 30. But instead they are expected to agree a "flexible" extension of up to a year.
That is despite the PM branding a longer delay "unacceptable" last month and vowing: "As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30."
Tory MPs are already furious at any Brexit extension, with 177 refusing to back a short delay to June 30 last night.
And anger is set to reach its peak tonight at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee of MPs in Parliament.
A Committee source told the Telegraph the "barricades will open” with MPs demanding Mrs May stand down if there is a long delay.
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The source said: "We would conclude our side of the leadership contest within two weeks.
"And then the party and the country would get four to six weeks of decision making.
"So we then elect the new Prime Minister to come in for just before recess."
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay today dodged saying whether Theresa May could stay in office if she accepts a long extension.
Instead he replied: "The Prime Minister is looking for a short extension and that is what the discussions this evening will be about."
But Justice Secretary David Gauke suggested she could stay on for a year - out of a sense of "duty".
Asked if she could last a year, he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett: "I think so, I very much hope so."
If there is still uncertainty, he said, "it may well be the last thing we need as a country is a leadership election."
Mr Gauke added: "If it helps the country she will walk, if it helps the country for her to stay she will stay.
"She will do what she thinks is the right thing for the country."
It came as fury from Tory MPs mounted at the PM's approach.
MPs are outraged at Mrs May - firstly for delaying Brexit, and secondly for holding talks with Labour that could pave the way for a softer Brexit.
Delaying Brexit beyond June 30 will mean having to stand in European Parliament elections.
Last month Mrs May said that would be "unacceptable".
But today Mr Gauke admitted the estimated £100m bill for fighting EU elections was "a cost we will just have to absorb".
Today Tory Brexiteer Bill Cash wrote to EU Council President Donald Tusk, claiming a long extension could be illegal and challenged in UK courts.
He wrote: "Parliament's legal intention for the UK to leave the EU is not conditional upon a withdrawal agreement.
"A long extension, without any rationale for how it is needed in order to deliver the UK's exit from the EU, is simply not something to which the Prime Minister can lawfully agree.
"It would amount to a deliberate decision to frustrate the clearly-expressed will of Parliament as a matter of the rule of law."
Meanwhile talks with Labour over a softer Brexit, including a customs union, sparked anger from Tory Liam Fox.
The International Trade Secretary branded a customs union the "worst of both worlds" that would leave Britain eaten up by the EU in an excoriating message to Tory MPs.
Theresa May previously promised Tory MPs she would stand down - if her Brexit deal passed.
But despite it not passing, the announcement appears to have starting a ticking clock on the PM's time in office.
Tory leadership hopefuls jostled to outline their visions for the party at an event in Parliament yesterday.
Penny Mordaunt and Matt Hancock suggested the party needed a "kick up the a***" after think tank Onward warned people were turning 50 before switching to the party.
