Angela Haggerty, Editor, Commonspace:

“I don’t think Theresa May is dangling off a cliff edge so much as she’s being tied to one until the Tories think it’s safe enough to cut her loose and put her out of her misery.

“What’s going on in the party can only really be described as a posh stairheid rammy, and with Brexit on the horizon and an odd cabinet mix of rogue lobbyists and bumbling toddlers, a full-blown Tory implosion can only be another crisis or two away.

“The public would be stocking up on popcorn if the Tories hadn’t left it queuing for foodbanks.”

Stu Campbell, Wings Over Scotland:

“I honestly have no idea how long she’ll cling on for. Her authority’s in shreds but she appears to be absolutely paralysed by her position and the Tories understandably have no clear idea of who’d be any better — would YOU want to choose between Johnson, Gove, Rees-Mogg and Leadsom? — so I can see her limping along as a shambolic figure of pity and contempt for quite a while to come.”

Kirsty Strickland, commentator:

“If we were living conventional times, where the normal rules and expectations of politics apply; she’d be gone already.

“Her credibility is eroded, and her leadership is non-existent. That said, there is no appetite within her party for either a leadership contest or another snap election.

“My bet would be on her limping on until the UK leaves the EU.”

Kirsty Blackman, MP for Aberdeen North:

“Theresa May is failing completely at keeping her cabinet together, let alone the country. This Government is in crisis and the only reason she is still in number 10 is that the divided Tories cannot agree on anyone else to take the reins.

“The lack of leadership and cohesion is an unmitigated disaster as the UK Government undertakes the most important negotiations in most of our lifetimes.”

Carolyn Leckie, columnist, The National:

“I wish the horrible situation people are in in this country could be solved by the resignation of a politician. But it won’t be. I think she’ll hang on cos the Tories can’t afford an election.”

David Torrance, columnist, The Herald:

“My line from the start has been she’ll survive a lot longer than most people think because both the internal (other Tories) and external (Corbyn) alternatives either aren’t clear or would be considered (by Tories) to be much worse

And in that context, all the current ructions don’t weaken her as much as everyone seems to think!”

Neil Mackinnon, former Lib Dem advisor:

“I’d say it’s impossible to say. On the one hand she is clearly incompetent and her whole government is paralysed into inaction because of it. On the other hand it seems clear that a majority of Tory MPs do not relish the prospect of Prime Minister Boris.

“That means that she could go on for some time. Limping from crisis to crisis but never being fatally wounded. This could be like the Wilson Callaghan government in the 1970s. So I wouldn’t be surprised if she survived to complete the Brexit negotiations but at the same time she might be gone by next month.

“It could go either way.”

Robbie Dinwoodie, former Political Editor, the Herald, writes for iScot magazine:

“The bookies reckon it’s 2-1 that another Cabinet Minister will go this month. If that happens, or there are further Israel revelations implicating May, she’ll be toast. The only thing that might save her is the realisation that a leadership contest would be a brutal civil war.“

Ladbrokes Politics:

“We think she’s safe in the short term, although the odds on her being replaced before the end of the year have been cut from 8/1 to 5/1. We’re offering 7/2 she’ll still be PM at the next General Election

Paul Kavanagh, Wee Ginger Dug:

“I think that the chaos and dysfunction is May’s greatest strength. There is no obvious candidate to replace her. Boris Johnson is widely loathed among backbenchers and would only make the party’s problems more acute.

The fact that marginal figures like Ruth Davidson and Jacob Rees Mogg are being touted in some quarters as potential leaders of the party illustrates how they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.

“What’s really keeping May in power is the fear within the Tory party of another General Election. They know that the chances are that they’d lose it and allow Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10. Much as they hate one another, the Tories hate Corbyn even more

“What was that Better Together told us about Scotland needing the strength and stability of the UK — just how is that working out?

Susan Morrison, comedian and newspaper columnist:

“Is she still here? How embarrassing. She’s a bit like Miss Haversham, sitting in her power suit wondering why the voters did not come.”

Deidre Brock, MP Edinburgh North and Leith:

“Theresa May’s career is over, she’s just marking time until her party removes her. In the meantime, though, her government is making a massive mess of Brexit, its cuts are driving people into poverty and desperation, her hapless ministers are making us a laughing stock around the world and she doesn’t seem to know what’s going on in her own back yard.

“If we could force a General Election we’d have a chance of dumping the Tories out of office but Labour’s leadership is all over the place and Corbyn and his team can’t work out their position on Brexit any better than the Tories. The UK is a shambolic embarrassment and Scotland would be better off out.”

Ken Ferguson, Scottish Socialist Party spokesman and Scottish Socialist Voice editor:

“Although every new day brings a new crisis for May we should never underestimate the ferocity with which the Tories will try to cling to power on behalf of their super-rich, tax-dodging elite friends.”

“Millions face poverty pay, criminally inflated rents humiliating benefit cuts and welfare sanction amounting to state sponsored starvation. They need to see the back of the heartless Tories as soon as possible.”

“November 22nd’s budget will either break with austerity exposing it as a heartless and unwanted or put another nail in the Tory coffin”

“With Labour still signed up to large areas of Tory cuts an independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic is more essential than ever”

Kathleen Nutt, journalist, The National:

“My sense is that Theresa May will cling onto power until March 2019 when the UK leaves the EU. Tory MPs will be weighing up what is the least worst option – sticking with the fiasco that is May’s premiership or seeking an alternative leader. The latter would require a leadership contest, which would inevitably see all the Conservative’s tensions over Brexit deepen, and cause even more instability for their party.

“If May was going to go before Brexit, I believe she would have gone after her disastrous speech to the Tory party conference in September. The fact she didn’t suggests to me her MPs are acutely aware of just how bad Plan B would be. Strangely for all her weakness, she’s bizarrely in a strong position for the next 15 months or so. Maybe she’ll finally have the courage to get rid of Boris Johnson?”

Leader, London Evening Standard, edited by George Osborne:

“Since the General Election debacle earlier this year [May] has been largely irrelevant to the political conversation in this country.” It goes on: “For every new arrival there has to be a departure. And the truth is that Mrs May simply cannot get away with firing a load of existing ministers.

“If she does, they may turn around and fire her instead. Such is the precariousness of her situation. That’s what happens when you have — as the Evening Standard pointed out first in June — a Prime Minister in office but not in power.

“There’s only one kind of reshuffle that will change that.”

Shona Craven, columnist, The National and The Herald:

“At the moment it’s easy to write off the UK Government as an omnishambles and blame Theresa May — but what matters is how she responds. Fallon’s downfall was one thing — replacing him with a poorly qualified ally was another.

“Many have the impression Patel was taken down by hashtag, and perhaps that’s the case. So May has a mountain to climb in terms of proving she’s in control at a time when all of the UK parties are in total disarray.”