FURY at Theresa May's No 10 speech in which she “pitched the public against Parliament” could have killed off any chance she had of getting her Brexit deal through the Commons next week, Tory MPs have warned.

And it is widely viewed at Westminster that if the Prime Minister failed for a third time to get her withdrawal plan through, then her premiership would be over. Senior Conservative figures are already said to be “on manoeuvres” to succeed her.

Mrs May caused a widespread backlash after she berated MPs for blocking her deal and suggested the public was fed up with their infighting, political games and arcane procedural rows at Westminster. “I agree. I am on your side. It is now time for MPs to decide,” she declared in a televised address from Downing St.

But her defiant speech caused outrage among MPs, who denounced it as “contemptuous”, “irresponsible” and “incendiary”. One angry backbencher called it a “f***ing disgrace”.

Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary and leading Remainer, claimed the PM’s speech was "terribly misjudged" and that she no longer held out hope the deal would win support.

"I suspect there will be people who were thinking of voting for the deal who will have been put off," said the Leicestershire MP.

One could be her Conservative colleague Ben Bradley, a Brexiteer who has previously backed Mrs May's deal. He labelled Mrs May’s speech "not helpful" and suggested he might now vote against the deal himself.

Tory Sam Gyimah, the former minister who resigned over Mrs May’s Brexit deal, accused her of delivering a "low blow" by "resorting to the blame game".

Anna Soubry, the former Business Minister, who left the Tories to join the Independent Group, branded the PM’s address "disgraceful and dishonest".

No 10 brushed aside the criticism, saying: “What the PM was doing was setting out to the public that while we are not going to be able to leave with a deal on time on March 29, she is not prepared to accept an extension beyond June 30.

“It’s three years since the referendum and the public no matter how they voted want to bring this to a conclusion and that is what she was setting out yesterday.”

When it was pointed out it seemed strange for Mrs May, when she was fighting to get the support of MPs for her Brexit plan, to be publicly rebuking them, her spokeswoman replied: “I don’t accept that. I just set out what the message was about, setting out details to the extension and her own personal feelings of regret that that has had to happen.”

It was also suggested the PM could have risked the safety of MPs as tensions rose towards the scheduled exit day of March 29.

In the Commons, the SNP’s Pete Wishart told MPs: “It was the height of irresponsibility for the Prime Minister to pitch the public against Parliament in the current climate, on the back of real issues of intimidation and threats against Members in all parts of the House.”

Mr Gyimah made a similar point, saying it was “particularly worrying given she knows MPs are receiving hate mail in their inboxes. Some MPs are receiving death threats".

Ms Soubry, a leading Remainer, revealed she was unable to go home to her Nottinghamshire constituency this weekend because of the seriousness of death threats she was facing.

No 10 firmly dismissed any suggested link between Mrs May’s remarks and putting MPs’ safety at risk.

“I would flatly reject that,” declared her spokeswoman. “There is no evidence to suggest that is the case…I reject there’s any connection.”

Also in the Commons, John Bercow, the Speaker, told MPs: “None of you is a traitor and all of you are doing your best.”

Insisting he passionately believed in the institution of Parliament, in the rights of MPs and their commitment to their duty.

He added: “The sole duty of every Member of Parliament is to do what he or she thinks is right.”