Doomed May could cling on for two more weeks and quit after Trump visit as she faces final showdown tomorrow
The Prime Minister is seeing Tory boss Sir Graham Brady tomorrow after Andrea Leadsom's resignation
THERESA May is set to cling on to power a few more days but will have to name the date of her departure tomorrow, it is believed.
The PM is under pressure to resign immediately after scrapping the planned fourth vote on her Brexit deal and losing the support of her party.
She will go to see the Tories’ backbench chief Sir Graham Brady on Friday morning – and he will ask her to set out a firm timetable for her resignation.
Westminster insiders believe she will agree to stay in office for two more weeks, until after Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK.
The PM would then officially quit in early June but continue as a caretaker leader until her successor is elected a few weeks later.
Mrs May’s showdown with Sir Graham comes after Andrea Leadsom dramatically quit the Cabinet last night.
Even the most loyal Tory MPs are now going public with their demands for Mrs May to resign as soon as possible.
Yesterday the PM’s closest officials told her she has lost the confidence of the party, and has no chance of getting her Brexit deal through Parliament.
As Mrs May enters the endgame of her time in office:
- The Tories face a battering at today’s European elections
- Leadership rivals jostled for position with Boris Johnson favourite to take over
- Andrea Leadsom hit out at Remainers who have undermined Brexit
- Mel Stride replaced Mrs Leadsom as the Leader of the Commons
- Ministers confronted the PM warning she can’t get her Brexit deal through
- Sacked Gavin Williamson threw his weight behind Boris Johnson
The Prime Minister bought herself a few more hours in office last night by sending the Chief Whip to address furious party grandees.
But she refused to go and see them herself, bunkering down in 10 Downing Street instead. Ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith quipped: “The sofa is up against the door, she’s not leaving.”
Julian Smith told the 1922 Committee Mrs May will hold a meeting with chairman Sir Graham after the Euro elections are over.
Asked who will be in charge when Donald Trump visits Britain next month, Jeremy Hunt said today: “Theresa May will be Prime Minister to welcome him and rightly so.”
It’s rumoured No10 staff have been ordered to cancel leave for tomorrow.
Top Gove ally replaces Leadsom in Cabinet
MICHAEL Gove’s campaign manager has been promoted to the Cabinet in a boost for the would-be PM ahead of the upcoming Tory leadership election.
Mel Stride was today announced as the new Leader of the House of Commons, replacing Andrea Leadsom.
The 57-year-old Central Devon MP was previously a junior Treasury minister, and served as a Government whip before that.
He is respected within Westminster as a safe pair of hands who often represents the Treasury in moments of crisis.
Although a Remainer, Mr Stride is close to the Brexiteer Mr Gove and is running his unofficial leadership campaign.
The minister, dubbed “Michael’s representative on Earth” by Tory MPs, hosts regular dinners on Mr Gove’s behalf and has been lobbying backbenchers to vote for his candidate.
VOTE SHELVED
Today Government whip Mark Spencer, standing in for the ex-Commons Leader Mrs Leadsom, revealed that plans to hold a vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the first week of June had been shelved.
Labour’s Valerie Vaz blasted: “This is yet another broken promise by the Prime Minister on Brexit.”
If Mrs May refuses to step down tomorrow, the 1922 Committee is likely to change party rules to allow an immediate no-confidence vote.
It’s understood members have already cast votes on a rule change, with their ballots sealed in an envelope which will only be opened if the PM tries to continue in office.
The committee’s treasurer, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, said today: “I want her to give a timetable for when she will go.”
Mrs Leadsom refused to say if she wants the leader to step down, saying this morning: “It’s for the Prime Minister to decide what’s right for her and for the country.”
Mel Stride, currently a junior Treasury minister, was announced as the new Commons Leader, with Jesse Norman, Michael Ellis and Rebecca Pow also picking up promotions in a mini-reshuffle.
Cabinet rebels are also furious at Mrs May for saying the Government will legislate for a second Brexit referendum if the Commons votes for one.
Senior ministers including Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid went to see Mrs May today to lay out their concerns about her leadership and Brexit plans.
Mr Duncan Smith today warned Cabinet members they must quit if the PM tries to press ahead with holding a vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
He told TalkRADIO: “If this bill is published tomorrow, I’m afraid you have to walk. You’re not doing the Prime Minister a favour if you are supporting her in this charade.”
And he urged Mrs May’s husband Philip to step in and advise her that it’s time to step away.
DEAL DOOMED
It emerged yesterday that 76 Tory MPs — a quarter of her party — are now vowing to vote down her deal if it returns to the Commons.
As well as Mrs Leadsom, seven other Cabinet ministers have told No10 they won’t back Mrs May’s high-stakes final Brexit gamble, which she announced in a speech on Tuesday.
Others in the top-table revolt include Mr Hunt, Mr Javid, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay.
Loyal backbenchers are increasingly turning against Mrs May in the wake of her latest Brexit fiasco.
Veteran MP Sir David Evennett said: “Theresa May must now resign. We need a new PM a new Cabinet and a new approach to Brexit.”
And ex-minister Nicky Morgan, a strong supporter of the PM’s Brexit deal, added: “The bill should not be put before parliament until there is a new Prime Minister.
“Although taking on the role under the current circumstances must seem like the absolute worst of poisoned chalices, at least there is still a chance, if the bill hasn’t been defeated, of finding enough common ground to get an agreement through Parliament.”
Digital Minister Margot James, who still backs Mrs May, said: “It’s all very regrettable but she’s being hounded out of office because Parliament will not make a decision and the parties just have an inability to compromise.”
In the event of a new Tory leadership contest, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would be a front-runner. But allies said Mrs Leadsom is considering whether to mount a new Tory leadership challenge to succeed Mrs May.
It would be her second tilt at the top job following her controversial bid in 2016 when she was forced to withdraw after appearing to suggest she was a better choice for the PM because she had children.
The leadership election will take roughly six weeks, with a new Prime Minister in place in early July – but Mrs May would stay in place while her successor is chosen.
What next if Theresa May quits?
IF Theresa May does step down tomorrow, as expected, she will kickstart the Tory leadership election.
It’s likely that the PM will stay in place while the new leader is being chosen, rather than handing over to an interim chief such as David Lidington.
The leadership contest, overseen by backbench boss Sir Graham Brady, will take around six weeks.
Any Tory MP can enter the race, and the list of contenders is then whittled down by the parliamentary party.
MPs vote in multiple rounds, eliminating one candidate each time until just two are left.
The party’s 120,000 activists then choose behind the final shortlist of two, with the winner declared leader and Prime Minister.
When Mrs May became leader, she didn’t have to submit to a vote of members because Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the race.
So the last time activists have had a say on the leadership was 2005, when David Cameron defeated David Davis.
In her resignation letter, Mrs Leadsom said the PM’s plans would fail to “deliver on the referendum result”.
She acknowledged that leaving on the eve of today’s European elections was damaging but she insisted she had to quit as she was “fundamentally opposed” to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which she was due to unveil to MPs today.
Mrs May reportedly begged Mrs Leadsom not to resign, but the Commons Leader was adamant she had no choice.
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