A lost cause? Theresa May could be weakest modern British prime minister on record

During her time in office, Mrs May has effectively lost her parliamentary majority, suffered many Commons defeats – some of historic proportions – and seen a steady stream of resignations from her Government.

With the parliamentary timetable now wrestled from her, Mrs May is in an incredibly weakened position and the numbers are such that she could even be considered the weakest prime minister in modern UK politics.

The two defeats suffered by Mrs May’s Government in the Commons on Monday night brought the total number endured by her since the 2017 election to 20.

Mrs May’s tally rises to 29, however, when including the nine occasions on which the Government has allowed Opposition motions to pass without a division.

This tends to happen when a government has no prospect of victory and simply accepts the motion in order to avoid an official defeat.

In the postwar era, only James

Callaghan’s government in the late Seventies has endured more, but even then at a slower rate than Mrs May’s.

The defeats endured by the Prime Minister have also been notable for their size, with the first meaningful vote on the

Withdrawal Agreement being defeated by a record margin of 230.

The second meaningful vote – lost by 149 votes – comes fourth on the list of biggest defeats in the modern era.

Monday night also saw three more ministerial

resignations, taking the current tally of ministers to have resigned over Brexit to 18, including four Cabinet members.

In total Mrs May has lost eight Cabinet ministers since the last election at a rate of one every 79 days.

This is by far and away the highest rate of departures out of the last nine governments and more than double the next highest rate.

Gordon Brown saw a resignation or sacking once every 176 days. Patrick Scott