DUP MP Ian Paisley has compared next week's crucial Westminster vote on Brexit to a "hanging".
He was responding to the prime minister's claim that there can be no deal without EU's backstop.
Theresa May, who faces a crucial vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement on Tuesday, said MPs could be given the power to decide whether the UK goes into such an arrangement.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Paisley said she was facing a hanging.
The North Antrim politician's remarks were paraphrasing a quote from the 18th Century writer Samuel Johnson.
"Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging," he said.
"Next week, the prime minister will be staring into the abyss in terms of what happens next because she can't unite her own party around her agreement – whilst our 10 DUP votes will, of course, matter her own party is going to stop this withdrawal agreement from happening."
