Theresa May has avoided a damaging Cabinet resignation after David Davis stepped back from the brink and decided not to quit as Brexit secretary.
Davis held two crisis meetings with the prime minister on Thursday morning over her plan to avoid a hard border between Ireland and the UK.
May has proposed a temporary deal which would see the UK stay within parts of the EU customs union as a fall-back position if no other option can be found.
But her proposal angered Brexiteers, including Davis, as the so-called backstop plan had no fixed end date.
Davis and other pro-Brexit Tories are concerned the lack of an end date would mean the UK remaining in the EU customs union indefinitely.
Following the talks between May and Davis in Westminster, the prime minister agreed to include a possible end date of December 2021.
A source close to Davis told HuffPost UK: “Obviously there’s been a back and forth on this paper, as there always is whenever the government publishes anything.
“The backstop paper has been amended and now expresses, in much more detail, the time limited nature of our proposal - something the PM and DD have always been committed to.”
However the idea of a backstop with a fixed end date could be dead on arrival in Brussels, as Ireland has ruled out agreeing to a time limit.