MAY’S DAY OF DISASTER
British PM set to quit as ministers rebel over Brexit deal
THERESA May is set to announce her resignation following a dramatic Cabinet revolt yesterday.
The British prime minister is expected to reveal details of her departure tomorrow after ministers savaged her concessions to rivals Labour over Brexit.
Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom piled pressure on Mrs May by announcing her own resignation from the Cabinet last night.
In a parting blast, she said she could not stomach the latest version of Mrs May’s Brexit deal, with its offer of a second referendum.
Other ministers are said to be ready to go too if Mrs May tries to cling to power after today’s European elections. The Tories are set to be decimated by Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
It is understood that senior ministers Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and David Mundell will use ministerial meetings with Mrs May today to warn that they also consider the Withdrawal Agreement Bill unacceptable in its current form.
Some Tory backbenchers were in uproar over Mrs May’s decision to seek Labour support in the hope of getting her deal through the House of Commons at the fourth attempt. At one stage yesterday, some aides believed she was on the verge of quitting on the spot – and even started preparations for a resignation statement.
But chief whip Julian Smith later told the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs that Mrs May intended to campaign in today’s elections and would instead meet the group’s chairman Graham Brady tomorrow to discuss its concerns. Mrs May refused to see rebel ministers yesterday afternoon, leading to accusations that she was bunkered down in No 10.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘The sofa is up against the door, she’s not leaving.’
However sources said meetings with senior ministers were postponed because Mrs May was having her regular audience with Queen Elizabeth, who she was expected to brief on her intentions. Whitehall insiders said the legislation that the prime minister announced on Tuesday might never now see the light of day.
She is said to have agreed to meet Mr Brady tomorrow to discuss arrangements for the election of a new Conservative Party leader.
An ally said: ‘The chances of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill coming forward now are very slender – there is too much opposition in Cabinet. That was her last move – she’s made her last move. I think she accepts that.’
Another said: ‘We completely understand what has happened over the course of the last 24 hours. She wants to be able to say that in her own words in short order. You will see that clearly when the elections are done.’ In other developments:
Mrs May made a final bid to sell her deal to the Commons, telling a half-full chamber that MPs would eventually have to accept compromise if they were to deliver on their ‘duty’ to take Britain out of the EU;
The 1922 Committee reportedly held a secret ballot on changing rules to allow a fresh confidence vote in the leader;
Michael Gove said Mrs May would have to ‘reflect’ on the backlash against her Brexit plans before deciding whether to continue with them;
The number of Tory MPs saying they would vote against Mrs May’s ‘new deal’ doubled to 76 in the 24 hours after she announced the new package;
Jeremy Corbyn ruled out backing the compromise plan, saying: ‘No Labour MP can vote for a deal on the promise of a prime minister who only has days left in her job’;
Conservative MPs sent in letters of no confidence in Mrs May to Mr Brady, with former minister Tim Loughton even posting a picture of his on social media.
Mr Duncan Smith warned that
Uproar over bid to get Labour support
Opening way for new referendum
Donald Trump could cancel his planned state visit to the UK at the start of next month because of the chaos at the top of government;
The Conservative Home website, seen as the ‘Bible’ of the party’s grassroots, urged supporters not to vote Tory in today’s elections unless Mrs May resigned immediately;
Former chancellor Kenneth Clarke rounded on Eurosceptic MPs, saying they had treated Mrs May abominably and ‘campaigned harder against her leadership than against the EU’.
The Tory revolt came after ministers were briefed in detail on the proposed concessions to Labour, which also include the option of a temporary customs union. Several were aghast at provisions in the legislation guaranteeing an act of parliament to deliver a second referendum if MPs voted for one.
One Cabinet minister said: ‘A lot of ministers are going to struggle to vote for this. I would certainly struggle with it as it is. It is opening the door to a second referendum – why would we do it?
‘We cannot put this to a vote – it would expose exactly how split the party is and make life even harder for her successor.
‘I don’t think anyone in Cabinet is ready to call for her to go. People still want her to make her own mind up and leave on her own terms. But there is a lot of pressure to pull the Bill – and that amounts to calling for her to resign.’ Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt will today urge Mrs May to pull the planned vote on the legislation, which No 10 said was still pencilled in for the first week of June.
Sources close to Mr Javid said the home secretary would demand that the prime minister strip out the provisions for a second referendum altogether before going ahead with the legislation.
Scottish Secretary Mr Mundell is also said to be unwilling to accept anything that opens the door to a second vote, arguing it would fuel demands for Scottish independence. Mrs May also faced a backbench revolt yesterday, with MPs demanding that the 1922 Committee tear up its own rules to allow an immediate vote of confidence in the prime minister.
Mr Brady came under fire at a meeting of the committee after warning that a rule change would set a dangerous precedent. One MP accused him of ‘going native’. Another branded him a ‘jellyfish’.
With polls suggesting the Conservatives could get just 7% of the vote today, calls for Mrs May to go extended beyond the Tory Eurosceptic wing. Leading moderate Tom Tugendhat said Mrs May had ‘to go – and without delay’.
‘She must announce her resignation after the European elections. And the Conservative Party must fast track the leadership process to replace her,’ he added.