British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned her divided party there may be "no Brexit at all" if they wreck her plan to forge a close relationship with the European Union after leaving the world's biggest trading bloc.
"My message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize," May wrote on Facebook on Sunday. "If we don't, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all."
Linking the fate of Brexit to her own survival in such an explicit way indicates just how precarious May's position remains after her government was thrust into crisis and US President Donald Trump publicly criticised her Brexit strategy.
With less than nine months to go before the UK is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, the country, the political elite and business leaders are still deeply divided over Brexit.
May doesn't yet have a Brexit deal with the EU so the British government has stepped up planning for a so called "no deal" Brexit that could spook financial markets and dislocate trade flows across Europe and beyond.
May has repeatedly said Brexit will happen and has ruled out a rerun of the 2016 referendum.
In an attempt to forge a balance between those seeking a smooth Brexit and those who fear staying too close to the EU's orbit would undermine the very nature of Brexit, May sought the approval of senior ministers for her plans on July 6.
After hours of talks at her Chequers country residence she appeared to have won over her cabinet, but just two days later David Davis resigned as Brexit secretary, followed by her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, the next day.
May called on Sunday for the country to back her plan for "friction-free movement of goods", saying it was the only option to avoid undermining the peace in Northern Ireland and preserving the unity of the UK.
Davis said it was an "astonishingly dishonest claim" and her plan would allow EU regulations to harm British manufacturers.
May's position was further undermined by Trump who told The Sun newspaper on Friday her proposals would probably kill off any chance of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
Though Trump later contradicted his comments by then promising a great US trade deal, the president made clear his admiration for the 54-year-old Johnson, who Trump said would one day make a great British prime minister.
Steve Bannon, Trump's former adviser, was even quoted by Britain's Daily Telegraph as saying it was now time for Johnson to challenge May for her job.
Johnson, the face of the Brexit campaign for many has remained silent in public since he warned in his resignation letter on July 9 that the "Brexit dream" was being suffocated by needless self-doubt.
Australian Associated Press
