Prime Minister Theresa May: “I firmly believe with my head and my heart that this is a decision which is in the best interests of our entire United Kingdom.”
Leadership, she said, was about “taking the right decisions, not the easy ones”, declaring she believed “with every fibre of my being” that the deal was right for the country.
But all this after a day of deepening political turmoil, the first resignations came before 9am this morning, followed by a series of others like toppling dominoes – meanwhile the plot against Mrs May’s leadership thickens.