THERESA May has been urged to “see off” the hard-line Brexiteers or risk sleepwalking into a disastrous cliff-edge withdrawal from the European Union.

The appeal was made by Anna Soubry, the pro-EU former Business Minister, as other Tory colleagues warned that the Prime Minister was on borrowed time and could be ditched in weeks if she did not “raise her game”.

With the heat rising within Conservative ranks between Remainers and Leavers, a number of senior figures sought to calm tempers as Labour, the SNP and the Liberal Democrats played on Tory turmoil.

Charles Walker, the Vice-Chairman of the influential backbench 1922 Committee, said anyone thinking the PM might be pressured into naming a date for her departure should "sit in a darkened room and put a cold towel over their heads".

Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, warned fellow pro-Brexit Tories that they "would be foolish to do anything to destabilise the Government and the Prime Minister", stressing: "Nothing will change the electoral arithmetic."

A Whitehall insider said David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, was urging colleagues to “get behind the PM” while a source close to Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, dismissed the latest Tory turbulence as “another episode of Brexit the soap opera; hopefully, it will have a happy ending”.

Over the weekend, various colleagues fired warning shots at their leader.

Theresa Villiers, the Eurosceptic former Northern Ireland Secretary, said she was worried about a "dilution of Brexit," Remainer Heidi Allen urged Mrs May to "get a grip" and former frontbencher Rob Halfon appeared to liken her to a "tortoise" in the way she governed.

His Tory colleague Johnny Mercer told the Resolution Foundation think-tank on Monday any change of leadership at the moment would be unhelpful and he would not support it. But the Plymouth MP added: “The window is closing because politics can be quite a brutal game. At the moment, I do feel we are slightly struggling with a message and with a vision."

An SNP MP described Tory infighting like “witnessing a punch-up at someone else’s wedding”.

Emphasising what some of her Conservative colleagues see as her fundamental weakness, Robert Peston, ITV’s Political Editor, tweeted how last week at Davos German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted the PM’s uncertainty and indecision on Brexit.

He tweeted: “Ms Merkel said that when she asks Mrs May what she wants the shape of the UK’s relationship with the EU to be, Mrs May says ‘make me an offer’. To which Ms Merkel says: “But you’re leaving; we don’t have to make you an offer. Come on, what do you want?”

No 10 declined to comment on the claim.

In the Commons during exchanges on Brexit, Paul Blomfield for Labour said most MPs wanted a "sensible approach to Brexit", asking: "Would the Minister agree that it would be right to reach out to that majority instead of letting the[pro-Brexit Conservative] European Research Group call the shots?"

Ms Soubry said: "When is the Government going to stand up against the hard Brexiteers who mainly inhabit these benches - there's only about 35 of them - see them off and make sure that we get a sensible Brexit, because if we don't, we will sleepwalk into a disastrous Brexit for generations to come."

Robin Walker, the Brexit Minister, stressed how the Government had always put the interests of the economy at the heart of its approach to Brexit. “We are seeking a successful negotiation that delivers for the UK economy and our neighbours in the EU but, of course, we need to ensure that we are prepared for all eventualities.”

Paul Masterton, the pro-EU Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire, noting how the British people were, in the main, not ideological but practical and simply wanted Brexit to work, asked if the Minister could assure him the Government’s policy would be “dictated not by fringe groups, either in this place or outside it, but by the national interest?” Mr Walker replied: “Yes.”