May promises Minister for Brexit as she launches opening leadership salvo at BoJo
The current Home Secretary has vowed to set up a government department dedicated to negotiating Britain's exit from the EU if she becomes PM
THERESA May says she is on a “mission to make Britain a country that works for everyone” as she launches her campaign to become Prime Minister today.
The Home Secretary’s pledge comes as a YouGov opinion poll taken since the EU Referendum gave her a 17-point lead over rival Boris Johnson.
It put support for her at 55 per cent, with Boris on 38 per cent.
Remain-supporting Mrs May, 59, will today vow her first act as PM will be to appoint a Brexit Secretary to her Cabinet.
Her promise is an attempt to reassure Leave-backing MPs there will be no U-turn on last week’s Referendum verdict.
The Brexit Secretary will be an MP who campaigned for Leave running a new ministry entirely dedicated to the UK’s pull-out.
In a letter to The Times, she appealed to blue-collar Tories, saying: “If you’re from an ordinary working-class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise.
“You have a job but you don’t always have job security.
“You have your own home, but you worry about mortgage rates going up.”
The Home Office boss will pledge to take a hard line to cut the number of European migrants coming in to Britain as part of any deal with Brussels
Sources close to Tory favourite Boris Johnson have said his campaign will focus on a 'positive, optimistic vision of the future of our country'
Remain backer Amber Rudd stunned colleagues by saying she'll back Boris in the first round of voting next Tuesday
And in an apparent dig at Mr Johnson, she added: “Not everybody in Westminster understands what it’s like to live like this.
“Some need to be told what the Government does isn’t a game.”
She finished by saying under her, the Conservatives will “put ourselves at the service of ordinary working people and we will strive to make Britain a country that works for everyone”.
Meanwhile, pro-Remain Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, a Boris critic, has stunned colleagues by revealing she will back him in Tuesday’s first round of voting.