A SENIOR Government minister has broken ranks and openly questioned Theresa May’s plan to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, saying it remains to be seen whether she stays Prime Minister after Brexit.

In an interview with the Herald, Greg Hands said that between the UK leaving the EU and the election due in 2022 there would be “all to play for”, including the Tory leadership.

He said: “A lot can happen in five years, and we’ll see what the situation is in 2022.”

The SNP said Mrs May’s leadership was now “unravelling”, while Labour accused her of “deluding herself” and leading a “zombie government”.

After a disastrous snap election in which she lost her majority, Mrs May had been expected to stand down as Prime Minister after seeing through Brexit in March 2019.

However on a visit to Japan last week with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, she reignited the issue by saying she was “not a quitter” and “in this for the long term”.

It prompted a furious, but so far largely anonymous, backlash from some Tory MPs and peers who said it was unthinkable that Mrs May could be put before the electorate again.

Mr Hands, who as Minister for Trade Policy is Mr Fox’s deputy, is believed to the first serving minister openly to cast doubt on Mrs May’s goal of carrying on in Downing Street.

He was speaking to the Herald on a visit to Edinburgh to open new offices of the Indian IT services giant Wipro, which is expanding to cater for the capital’s booming tech sector.

He said that “at the moment” he had “complete confidence” in the Prime Minister, and credited her with doing very well over a difficult twelve months.

But asked if she was the optimum person to lead the Conservatives into the next election, he said: “Well, we’ll have to see. Five years is a long way away.

“I think she’s doing a very good job, a very effective job. There’s a lot to be getting on with at the moment. Let’s deal with Brexit. We’ve got a number of other domestic challenges.

“We should be focusing on the next year or two, not focusing on five years’ time.”

Pressed on what would happen after Brexit, he said: “After Brexit, well, let’s see.

“I think if we get the right sort of deal that we want to get, that comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union, get a good deal whereby defence, security, counter-terrorism cooperation is increasing, continuing, then it’ll be all to play for.”

Asked if the leadership of his party was among the things “all to play for”, he replied: “Again, we’ll have to see. It’ll be five years to the next general election.

“If you think back five years in time, think backwards five years in time and think 2012, the difference between politics in 2012 and 2017, five years is a long time.”

Mr Hands, an MP since 2005, was held a number of government roles, including deputy chief whip and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

He filled the latter under then Chancellor George Osborne, who, as editor of the London Evening Standard, has become one of Mrs May’s most pungent critics.

Mr Hands was returned as the MP for Chelsea and Fulham in June, but saw his majority almost halved after a 10.2 per cent swing to Labour, which also picked up the neighbouring seat of Kensington.

If 15 per cent of the 316 Conservative MPs send letters of no confidence in Mrs May to Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, it would trigger a leadership contest.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Mr Blackford said: “Theresa May’s statement in Tokyo last week has clearly not gone down well because a number of leading figures in the Tory party were under the impression that she would be leaving at some point.

“Theresa May has levered open the door [to a challenge] and people are beginning to see which direction they’re going to go.

“It’s not a happy place, the Tory government. It’s clear there is a jockeying for position in the Tory party and a Prime Minister who is frankly a dead woman walking.”

Labour MP Jon Trickett, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “The Prime Minister is deluding herself. Neither the public nor Tory MPs believe her fantasy of staying on till 2022. Theresa May leads a zombie government. The sooner the public has the chance to vote out her and her government the better for our country's future."