Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson was looking to the Bible for inspiration this week to end the row over Britain's exit from the European Union.

Pro-Brexit Mr Johnson said in his weekly Daily Telegraph column that after "bottling it completely", Mrs May should lead the UK out of the EU now and without a backstop if necessary. 

"We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely. We have now undergone the humiliation of allowing the EU to decide the date on which we may make our own departure. It is the EU that is now insisting that Parliament must vote – for a third time! – on its Carthaginian terms, if we are to be permitted to leave on May 22," wrote an indignant Mr Johnson. 

He continued: "If she cannot give that evidence of change, she should drop the deal, go back to Brussels, and set out the terms that so many on both sides – Remainers and Leavers – now believe are sensible.

"Extend the implementation period to the end of 2021 if necessary; use it to negotiate a free-trade deal; pay the fee; but come out of the EU now – without the backstop. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – LET MY PEOPLE GO."

It comes after a stormy week for Mrs May, who is fighting for her premiership after losing two votes on her deal in Parliament.

She held emergency talks with Mr Johnson and other Brexit hardliners including Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis at Chequers on Sunday. 

The talks addressed whether there was "sufficient support in the Commons to bring back a Meaningful Vote this week", said a Downing Street spokesman.

The Chequers meeting was held a day after over a million people marched through central London demanding a second referendum. 

A petition calling on the Government to revoke Article 50 has also gone viral in the last few days, amassing over 5 million signatures.

Mr Johnson's tweet was met with ridicule on Twitter.