Supporters of Cabinet contenders for the Number 10 hot seat made clear in private they do not want a leadership challenge before the first stage of Brexit is resolved, even if cross-party talks with Labour fail to yield positive results, sources told The Times. They fear a summer leadership challenge before Theresa May can get her Brexit deal thorough Parliament would provide Brexiteer rivals Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab with vital momentum, both of whom have pledged to re-open talks with Brussels. The Prime Minister has come under huge pressure following her decision to accept a deadline of October 31 from Brussels to extend the Article 50 process and to begin talks with Jeremy Corbyn as she desperately looks for ways to build support for her Brexit deal.

Mrs May has vowed to quit once this first stage of negotiations is complete, but one source backing a Cabinet rival told The Times their candidate would be “perfectly happy” for her to remain in office until December when, under the Tory leadership rules, she can next face a confidence vote.

The source said: “We want a contest after the first stage of Brexit has been sorted so we can talk about other things.

“Most leading contenders do not want an early challenge, even if that means waiting and supporting the Prime Minister until December.”

A supporter of another leading candidate warned their leadership campaign would be damaged if an election took place amongst the continued Brexit chaos when they would want to make pledges for the future.

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I think what the Prime Minister has to do is aim everything now towards the departure of the Euros, which would then allow her to step away, having done what she said she would do, getting the UK out of the EU one way or the other

Iain Duncan Smith

They said: “No one is going to be able to offer a purer form of Brexit from inside the Cabinet.”

A separate source said holding a leadership campaign at such a time would lead to an “extraordinary burst of unicorn chasing”, adding: “Candidates would be forced into positions that are undeliverable from either a policy or a political perspective.”

Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith yesterday warned Mrs May to step down next month, but after getting Britain out of the EU before May’s European elections.

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “She said she would go as and when the EU withdrawal agreement was ratified, which was looking at around May, June – I think those dates will stand.

“I think what the Prime Minister has to do is aim everything now towards the departure of the Euros, which would then allow her to step away, having done what she said she would do, getting the UK out of the EU one way or the other.

“Then we can have another leadership election and pick a new leader, which is the way it has to be.”

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock have all been strongly tipped to run for the leadership, while Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt are also expected to feature.

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who both quit last year, will fight to be the Brexiteer candidate and secure backing from rebel Tory MPs among the European Research Group (ERG).

Several MPs vying for the leadership have already starting setting out their stalls.

Mr Javid will make a speech today on tackling and preventing rising crime, calling for the Conservative Party to adopt new methods “to shape the lives of young people to prevent criminality”.

He will say: “No future should be pre-determined by where you’re born or how you’re brought up. We cannot afford to leave anyone behind.”

Mr Raab wrote an article in The Sunday Telegraph calling for tax cuts to help first time property buyers, while Ms Truss said the Tories need to appeal more to younger voters.

Mrs May has already survived a leadership challenge against her in December but under the current system, such a move can only be brought against her once every 12 months.

But two former chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs warned those rules could be changed.

Lord Spicer and Lord Hamilton write in The Sunday Telegraph: “Conservative MPs are responsible for their party. If they wish to change these rules there is nothing standing in their way.”

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