Thursday 16 May 2019 3:09 pm | Updated: Wednesday 05 June 2019 8:45 am

Prime Minister Theresa May to set out her departure date in June

Theresa May will set out the date of her departure from Downing Street in the first week of June, it has been confirmed.

The Prime Minister met with the executive members of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee amid growing frustration with her leadership of the party.

Following what was described as a “very frank discussion”, May agree to agree a timetable for new party leader – but only after another vote has taken place on her Brexit.

MPs will be asked for the fourth time to give the green light to May’s EU withdrawal plan the week commencing 3 June.

A joint statement released after the confrontation between May and 1922 chairman Sir Graham Brady read: “The Prime Minister is determined to secure our departure from the European Union and is devoting her efforts to securing the 2nd Reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the week commence 3 June 2019 and the passage of that Bill and the consequent departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union by the summer.

“We have agreed that she and I will meet following the 2nd Reading of the Bill to agree a timetable for the election of a new leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party.”

Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP for Middlesborough South, welcomed the move towards May's departure from Downing Street.

Clarke, who has been a vocal critic of May's Brexit policy, told Morning Wire: "It's really important the party and the country can move forward and when we have a new leader we can do that."

Clarke said he would be backing former foreign secretary Boris Johnson – who has announced his intention to stand – in the subsequent leadership election.

"He's the right man for this situation. We need an extraordinary leader for extraordinary times."