Andrea Leadsom has said it is a “matter for her” whether Theresa May remains as prime minister once a Brexit deal is approved.
Senior Tory backbenchers will on Wednesday demand the prime minister sets out a timetable for her resignation as their price for backing her deal.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s today programme this morning, Leadsom said she was “fully supporting the prime minister to get us out of the European Union”.
Asked if May should stand down after that, the pro-Brexit Commons leader said: “I think that is a matter for her. I am not expressing a view.”
It comes as several high profile Brexiteers, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, have indicated they are now ready to vote in favour of the government’s deal.
Leadsom said there is a “real possibility” a third meaningful vote on the deal will be held on Thursday or Friday this week.
“We are completely determined to make sure that we can get enough support to bring it back,” she added.
“The prime minister said she is working hard, as many colleagues are, to persuade colleagues to support it.”
But the PM still faces an uphill struggle to get it over the line in the face of continued opposition from a core of hardline Conservatives, as well as the DUP.
Today MPs will try to seize control of the Brexit agenda by staging a series of “indicative votes” on what different deals could win a majority in the Commons.
Options on offer include a new customs deal; a Norway-style “Common Market 2.0” plan; and revoking Article 50.
Leadsom said the government was not duty-bound to implement what parliament voted on, as it could be “undeliverable”.
The Commons leader said with just hours to go until the votes takes place, whether to order Tory MPs how to vote was still “being considered”.
Steve Brine, who resigned as a health minister last week, has predicted “north of a dozen” other pro-Remain ministers would quit if May imposed a whip.
May’s deal must be passed by Friday if the UK is to benefit from an automatic delay in the date of Brexit to May 22. If not, it has until April 12 to make new proposals or leave without a deal.