Tory MPs round on Theresa May for promising to stay in No10 for years as they urge her to remember the ‘disastrous election’ and deliver for Britain on Brexit first
PM’s vow to lead her party into the next General Election has been met with lukewarm reaction by her colleagues
A HOST of Tories have reacted with dismay at Theresa May’s bold claim that she plans to stay in Number 10 for years as they urge her remember the “disastrous election result”.
The Prime Minister vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next General Election and defiantly insisted she is "not a quitter".
But it has been met with a lukewarm reaction from her colleagues- who suggested she needed to deliver for Britain with a great Brexit deal before suggesting she would be able to stick around to the next decade.
Mrs May’s decision to come out fighting followed reports she was preparing to stand down in August 2019.
She was backed by Boris Johnson, viewed as a potential candidate in any future Tory leadership contest, who said the PM had his "undivided" support.
But former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said it would be "difficult" for Mrs May to lead the party into the next election, due in 2022.
The ex-Education Secretary told BBC's Hardtalk that no leader wants to put a date on their departure in advance because it is a sign of "your own political mortality".
But she added: "I think it's going to be difficult for Theresa May to lead us into the next general election."
The move was savaged in an which is now edited by former Chancellor George Osborne.
It said: "Like the Living Dead in a second-rate horror film, the premiership of Theresa May staggers on oblivious.
"This leaves Conservatives MPs facing the age-old dilemma: do you attempt a mutiny against a bad captain, and risk getting shot — or do you resign yourself to going down with the ship?"
And former party chairman Grant Shapps said it was "too early" for Mrs May to talk about going "on and on" like Margaret Thatcher.
He told the BBC the party will decide her future, not herself, adding: "This will certainly have raised some eyebrows."
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Mr Shapps said he had spoken to 50 colleagues in Parliament and most agreed that although the PM had a "job to do" with Brexit: "We need to see that performance before we can possibly know how long she’ll stay in Downing Street."
He added: "The truth is we ran a very poor election. You can't go pretending it wasn't anything other than a disastrous result, of course it was.
"And you can't jump straight from that to 'I'll go on for ever', you've got to have an in between stage.
"And the in between stage is delivering on some of the stuff we need to deliver."
The former Deputy PM Michael Heseltine also said it would be diffult for her stay on, saying: “The Tory party will have to decide whether that reflects their best interests, whether they want a battle with Jeremy Corbyn like before. My guess is they don't.
“The long term is the difficult one for Theresa May, I don’t think she has got a long term.”
But a new poll shows most Brits think the Tories will be worse off if Mrs May remains as leader.
Sky News revealed 45 per cent of the public think it would be bad for the party if they go into the next general election with her at the helm – with just 28 per cent saying it will be a good thing.
And the PM is seen as even more of a hindrance by young people – by a margin of 60 per cent to 16 per cent.
But more worryingly for her is the poll, conducted yesterday, showing people aged 35-54 also think she does more bad than good for the Conservatives, while the over-55s are split.
In a series of interviews during a visit to Japan, Mrs May set out her plan to fight on, promising to deliver social reforms that will give the country a "brighter future";.
Asked if she intends to fight the next election, she said: "Yes. There's been an awful lot of speculation about my future which has no basis in it whatsoever.
"I'm in this for the long term. There's a real job to be done in the United Kingdom. It's about getting the Brexit deal right, it's about building that deep and special partnership with the European Union, but it's also about building global Britain, trading around the world.”
Pressed to rule out stepping down before the next election, due in 2022, she replied: "I'm not a quitter."