It is meant to be a watershed week; the moment when Theresa May – after two years of negotiating in Brussels, Westminster and within her own cabinet – asks parliament to back her Brexit deal.
But with just 48 hours from the planned meaningful vote it is far from clear whether it will go ahead at all, in the face of what is looking like a catastrophic defeat that threatens to bring down her premiership – and her government too.
Senior sources have told me that the vote is going ahead “as it stands” but say in reality the prime minister and her chief whip haven’t made the decision yet as to whether to postpone vote or not.
There are various options that the prime minister’s team are weighing up as we go into a critical week for Mrs May – and for the country too.
The first question they are surely asking is how big will the defeat be and what could then flow from a hundred-plus rebellion on the Tory benches?
A catastrophic defeat will undoubtedly plunge her premiership, already hanging by a thread, into a full-blown crisis.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could seize on the mayhem and table a motion of no confidence in her government as early as Tuesday night.
