Brexit: Jeremy Hunt says no prime minister ‘in living memory’ has been tested like Theresa May has

His comments prompted comparisons between the PM and Winston Churchill

No prime minister “in living memory” has been tested like Theresa May, a cabinet minister claimed.

Jeremy Hunt rallied behind the prime minister in the wake of her inflammatory late-night address on Wednesday, where she heaped blame for the delay to Brexit on parliament and told the public: “I am on your side.”

Amid a furious backlash from MPs, the foreign secretary said Ms May was under “extraordinary pressure” and warned that Brexit had “sapped our national confidence”.

Mr Hunt also upped the stakes for Brexiteers, warning that MPs could revoke the Article 50 process next week if Ms May’s deal is defeated again.

The prime minister is travelling to Brussels for what could be the UK’s final summit as a member of the EU, where she will make the case for delaying exit day until 30 June.

Mr Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have to accept that no prime minister in living memory has been tested in the way that she has.”

He then clarified that he meant outside of wartime, adding: “She has had to negotiate a deal with EU which is incredibly difficult, she has had to cope without having a majority in parliament which makes it doubly difficult.

“So I don’t think we should make this all about Theresa May because I think anyone in her shoes would have found this thing very difficult.”

His comments immediately sparked debate on social media over whether Ms May had endured a more turbulent time in office than Winston Churchill or former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown during the 2008 financial crisis.

He said the prime minister felt a “sense of frustration” over being forced to appeal to EU leaders for a delay to Brexit, after MPs overwhelmingly rejected her deal twice.

Mr Hunt said: “She is absolutely determined to deliver what people voted for and I think ... the Brexit process has sapped our national confidence and we need to remember now what we’re capable of as a country.”

With a matter of days to go until Britain’s departure from the EU, Ms May formally requested an extension to the end of June in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk on Wednesday.

Ahead of today’s Brussels meeting, Mr Tusk said a “short” delay should be possible – but only if MPs finally back her deal before 29 March.

With fears in Brussels growing that the UK is heading for a no-deal exit, he said he would not hesitate to call an emergency summit next week if that proved necessary.

Mr Hunt said Britain would be faced with three options if Ms May’s deal is defeated again next week: revoke Article 50; leave without a deal; or, he said, a longer extension could be granted at an emergency EU summit, but with “onerous conditions”.

“The choice that we have now is one of resolving this issue or extreme unpredictability,” he said.

Ms May’s Wednesday speech appears to have backfired, prompting fury from MPs who accused her of encouraging abuse against them.

Pro-EU Tory Sam Gyimah, who quit as a minister over her deal, described her remarks as “toxic”.

He said: “Resorting to the ‘blame game’ as the PM is doing is a low blow. Democracy loses when a PM who has set herself against the House of Commons then blames MPs for doing their job.”

Anna Soubry, who left the Conservatives to join the breakaway Independent Group, described it as the “most dishonest and divisive statement from any prime minister”.