DAN HODGES The question for Tory MPs is: Do you want to turn Britain into a self-obsessed banana republic?

ON THURSDAY evening I sat in the State Dining Room in Downing Street and watched Theresa May responding to questions being fired at her by the assembled press pack.

Two of her ministers had resigned. Rumours of further resignations were circulating. A motion of no confidence was said to be imminent. The pound was plummeting.

‘Am I going to see this through?’ she said calmly but firmly. ‘Yes.’

Several hours earlier I had stood in a jammed corridor outside Committee Room 10, where the European Research Group had called a meeting of its members.

They were going to be encouraged to submit the 48 letters necessary to initiate the process of ejecting the UK’s prime minister from office.

Jacob Rees-Mogg arrived. ‘Are you writing a letter?’ he was asked. “Scribble, Scribble, Mr Gibbon,’ he replied gleefully.

It’s not about Brexit any more. The issue facing Conservative MPs this morning is whether they remain custodians of a mature parliamentary democracy, or turn Britain into a banana republic.

A republic whose self-obsessed, entitled rulers discard the traditional virtues of courage, dignity and public service in favour of their preferred vices – self-indulgence, petulance and duplicity. Having spent the summer pledging their target was her Chequers policy, rather than the prime minister herself, Rees-Mogg and his colleagues have come clean. It is about ditching her after all. Inevitably, those wielding the knife profess to have done so reluctantly. Having given Mrs May ample opportunity to address their concerns about the deal, they were left with no option. Even until the very last moment they were on the floor of the House of Commons, urging her to change course.

But their appeals were synthetic. And carefully choreographed. Even before the details had been published, ERG members were fanning out to rubbish the deal.

REES-MOGG delivered his seemingly impromptu statement wearing his own personal microphone, and with a private camera crew in tow. Former Brexit minister Steve Baker asked Mrs May if she would guarantee no-deal planning would continue. She assured him it would. Two hours later he submitted his letter anyway.

Last week’s ambush has been framed as an act of resistance. But in truth it is an act of vengeance. Cooler-headed Brexiteers – such as Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom and Penny Mordaunt – have correctly recognised that the optimum strategy is to stay in the cabinet and try to shape events from within. At least for now.

But those pushing for May’s removal have no interest in seeking pragmatic solutions to the Brexit conundrum. They are well aware her removal would not wring a single new concession from Brussels. They know full well that the despised ‘backstop’ would be a condition of any ongoing negotiation, regardless of whether the model was Norway, Canada or Timbuktu. Instead they want a sacrifice. A blood-tithe to offset what they see as the prime minister’s failure to wrench Britain out of the EU on the timetable and terms of their choosing.

It is imperative the Tory Party does not hand the prime minister over to them. Less than 18 months ago the UK went to the polls. Yes, the result was seen as a rebuke for Mrs May. But the fact is she was returned to office with the highest share of the vote since Margaret Thatcher’s landslide of 1983. And for Tory MPs to haul her from office only a year later would be viewed by the voters as insulting arrogance.

Unfortunately, some of Mrs May’s colleagues seem to have forgotten there is an electorate out there at all. To them, Britain’s interest in national governance ended on June 23, 2016, with the referendum vote.

It did not. Voters do not view their prime minister merely as a glorified chauffeur for Brexit. Yes, they want the view they expressed in the referendum respected and implemented. But they also care about their schools, hospitals, transport services, police and armed forces.

And their decision on who to lead them through uniquely difficult and dangerous times will be based on more than an assessment of who can win a staring contest with Michel Barnier.

But those pushing – falteringly – towards the magic total of 48 names to trigger a leadership election literally do not care who sits with their finger on the nuclear button. When asked about who should replace Mrs May, Jacob Rees-Mogg reeled off a random list of names. Steve Baker made the staggering admission that in the event of a contest, the ERG could resort to the drawing of lots to ensure which candidate secures their backing.

To be fair it’s not just the ERG which seems intent on playing Russian roulette with the UK’s future. ‘She’s toast,’ a Centrist Tory MP told me. ‘We need to get her out and install a caretaker PM.’

A caretaker? Britain is not a block of flats, and the midst of the most difficult negotiation since World War II, with Putin stalking, Trump rampaging, is not the moment to turn No10 into an Airbnb. Allies of the prime minister confirm she does not harbour Mrs Thatcher’s desire to go ‘on and on’.

IT’S an open secret that Philip May is reluctant to see his wife put through another election campaign, although last week he was reportedly struggling to contain his anger at her treatment at the hands of the ERG and some ministers.

But sooner or later Mrs May will hand over the baton. And when she does, she must be allowed to do so in a measured and orderly way. There needs to be a proper contest. With serious candidates, who offer a proper strategic choice over the future direction of their party and country.

What would be inexcusable – and politically catastrophic – would be for her to be seen to be bundled from office as part of a failed negotiation by group of ideologues seeking to satiate the Brexit bloodlust. Mrs May has made mistakes. There are still very real doubts about whether her preferred deal can pass the final hurdle of the House of Commons.

But in the midst of her darkest week she has shown more courage, resilience and dignity than almost all of her critics combined. She has indeed earned the right to see this through.