POLL-DARK
Is Theresa May staying in power, did she win the no confidence vote and and how many MPs called for it?
THERESA May has seen off a leadership challenge in yet another crunch moment of a politically excruciating end to the year.
Cancelling the Commons vote on her unpopular Brexit deal resulted in yet another punishing vote on her premiership. Here's what we know about what happened next.
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Is Theresa May staying in power?
Yes - for now at least.
A critical proportion of Tory MPs - 15 per cent - filed letters expressing no confidence in Mrs May's leadership after she pulled a doomed-to-fail vote on her Brexit deal from Parliament.
But a resulting vote on her leadership on December 12, 2018 - the first in nearly 40 years - proved not to be the end of her political career.
May secured 200 votes from Tory MPs, giving her an 83 vote majority.
What happens next, now the PM has won?
With only 63 per cent of the party backing her, the future isn't exactly bright for the embattled PM and her despised Brexit plan.
Regardless, she cannot personally face another no confidence vote for another year, so on that front, she's safe.
However, the weaker-than-expected result might bolster the likelihood of Labour going for a vote of no confidence in the government itself.
If this were to go ahead and get the required backing from other opposition parties, it could mean a snap election.
Mrs May has indicated that she could step down before her term is up in 2022, but that she aims to complete Brexit before she steps down.
“She’s made the commitment that I think is what people wanted, but she was very clear that she won’t be taking the general election in 2022,” cabinet minister Amber Rudd told the BBC.
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How many MPs called for Theresa May to face a leadership challenge?
A leadership challenge was triggered overnight on December 11/12 after at least 48 Conservatives submitted letters calling for the PM to go.
Under current rules, 15 per cent of Tory MPs needed to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, to trigger the vote of no confidence in Mrs May.
With 317 Tory MPs in Government, that meant at least 48 letters were required.
What is a vote of no confidence?
There are two kinds, and neither are the least bit palatable for a sitting PM.
One involves a motion of no confidence being moved in the House of Commons with the wording "that this House has no confidence in HM Government".
The backing of a majority of MPs would topple the Government.
If a new Government with the support of the Commons cannot be formed within 14 days, an early general election is called.
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It is one of only two ways in which an early general election may be triggered under the terms of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011.
The other kind - which occurred within the Tory Party on December 12 - saw Tory MPs write to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee expressing no confidence.
The required 48 MPs wrote letters expressing their desire for a vote of no confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee, triggering an anonymous ballot to decide their leader's fate.
Because May received backing from over half of the Conservative Party MPs, she not only remained leader, but became immune from a similar challenge for a year.
Theresa May wins no confidence vote by just 83 votes
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