The cottage had been a royal gift to Abdul Karim by Queen Victoria, then Empress of India, in recognition of his service and as a sign of her affection towards her Indian aide and confidant.
Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to convince British lawmakers to back her Brexit deal -- formally signed off by EU leaders last weekend -- in a key vote in parliament on December 11.
May secured an agreement with European Union leaders on Sunday that will see Britain leave the bloc in March next year with continued close trade ties, but the odds look stacked against her getting it through a deeply divided British parliament.
Speaking to a parliamentary committee, May was asked several times whether she would personally allow a disorderly Brexit to happen if -- as looks increasingly likely -- MPs vote down the deal she has struck with the EU.
Given this range of options, the economic analysis offered two different models on what the final deal could look like, and assessed how they could affect the economy when combined with the government's hopes of ending free moment of EU workers into Britain.
Since Article 50 of the EU treaty of Lisbon dealing with departing members is scant on details - largely because the idea of any country leaving the bloc was considered a remote possibility - a group of Scottish legislators wants to know whether the UK can pull out of the withdrawal procedure on its own.
May was gathering her Cabinet for a meeting hours after returning from Brussels with the divorce agreement approved by the 27 other EU leaders. She plans to address lawmakers in the House of Commons later in the day. The deal needs to be approved by Parliament, but scores of legislators - from both the opposition and May's governing Conservative Party - say they will oppose it.
May returns to a mutinous Westminster after sealg the agreement with European Union leaders at a summit on Sunday in Brussels, where both sides insisted this was the best and only option available.
May used a post-summit news conference to make a sales pitch for her plan, telling television viewers at home that it was the "only possible deal", offering control of UK borders and budgets while maintaining close cooperation with EU regulations that was good for business and the security of the broader region.
At the centre of the dispute was a legal guarantee to keep the Irish border open, known as the "backstop", which Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his EU allies insisted on and Britain eventually and very reluctantly agreed to.
European Council President Donald Tusk, after a special summit in Brussels this weekend, tweeted: "EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations". May now faces the final and biggest hurdle of getting the deal approved by the UK Parliament where many MPs from her own party remain vehemently opposed to it.
