Daily Express

MAY CALLS IN CAVALRY TO FIGHT COUP

Brexit ministers rally round PM as loyal Rudd returns to Cabinet But angry backbench MPs plot no-confidence vote within days

- By Macer Hall Political Editor

THERESA May rallied her closest allies around her last night to launch a desperate fightback against an attempt by Tory rebels to force her out of Downing Street.

As Brexiteer demands for a noconfiden­ce vote in her leadership intensifie­d, the Prime Minister brought back her staunch ally Amber Rudd into the Cabinet to bolster her position.

She also made loyalist minister Stephen Barclay EU Exit Secretary while taking personal charge of the final weeks of the Brexit talks.

Environmen­t Secretary Michael Gove also came to Mrs May’s aid by ending uncertaint­y over his future by insisting he would stay in the Cabinet and give her full backing.

Returning to the Government less than seven months after she quit in an immigratio­n scandal, Ms Rudd said: “This is not a time for changing our leader.

“This is a time for pulling together, for making sure that we remember who we are here to serve, who we are here to help, that’s the whole of the country.

“I am confident the Prime Minister can survive.

“I think she’s demonstrat­ed this week her complete commitment to making sure that she serves the people she was elected to do so and she’s come forward with a really practical response to leaving the European Union. I think it’s the right combinatio­n.”

Tory whips met at Westminste­r yesterday to discuss building support for Mrs May ahead of a crunch no-confidence vote – expected to be triggered on Monday – which would oust her from Downing Street.

It follows a backlash against her controvers­ial EU Brexit deal.

Mrs May also appealed directly to local Tory chiefs to back her deal, in a conference call from her constituen­cy home in Maidenhead, Berks.

But rebels insisted a no-confidence vote was “imminent”.

By yesterday afternoon, 22 backbench Tories declared they had submitted letters demanding the ballot to the ruling body of their parliament­ary party.

Ringleader­s were hoping the 48 signatures needed to trigger the vote will be reached this weekend.

Mrs May came out fighting yesterday in a major offensive by Downing Street to sell her Brussels deal as the best option for Britain.

The Prime Minister told LBC Radio: “For a lot of people who voted Leave, what they wanted to do is to make sure that decisions on thing like who could come into this country would be taken by us here in the UK and not by Brussels – and that’s exactly what the deal I’ve negotiated delivers.”

She also signalled her determinat­ion to take personal charge of the final weeks of the Brexit negotiatio­ns by appointing health minister Stephen Barclay as the Cabinet’s new EU Exit Secretary. He replaces Dominic Raab, who quit on Thursday in protest at the deal. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, a leading critic of the Prime Minister, said: “It doesn’t matter who is in the Cabinet.

“Theresa May treats her ministers like Christmas tree baubles, just there for adornment, while she bounces them into decisions.”

Tory whips met at Westminste­r yesterday to discuss rallying support for Mrs May in case a no-confidence vote was triggered.

Former Brexit minister Steve Baker, a leading member of the European Research Group of Euroscepti­c Tories, said: “People have been ringing me and they are telling me that they are putting letters in.

“I have spoken to colleagues as well and I think we are probably not far off. “I think it is probably imminent.” He also called for Brexiteer Tories to be ready to unite by a single “charismati­c and determined” candidate to replace Mrs May. He said: “What we would need to do is identify the plausible candidates.

“We need to stick them in a room and say, ‘Let’s not repeat the mistake of last time’, decide among yourselves – even if you have to draw lots – which one of you is our candidate as a Brexiteer.”

Mr Baker said only Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee knew the true number of letters received.

“My number will be inaccurate because people will withdraw letters, they will tell me they have put letters in when they haven’t, they will take them out and not tell you they have taken them out,” he said.

Foreign Office Minister Mark Field appealed for MPs to stop “squabbling” and get behind Mrs May’s Brexit deal. “I think just to watch MPs squabbling is not a very edifying scene,” he told the World At One.

“I would also say, across the political divide, please, please put the national interest first.

“The idea of playing politics on such an important issue when the option is a no deal which would be pretty calamitous, not just for us but the rest of Europe as well, this is not a sensible way forward.”

Tory MP Jack Lopresti, whose wife Andrea Jenkyns has submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister, said he backed Mrs May’s plan.

The Filton and Bradley Stoke MP said: “The Prime Minister is committed to delivering Brexit and I hugely admire her sense of duty and determinat­ion to achieve a deal that is in our country’s best interests.”

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 ??  ?? Michael Gove arrives in Whitehall yesterday to pledge his backing for the PM. Right, Amber Rudd last night at the Department for Work and Pensions
Michael Gove arrives in Whitehall yesterday to pledge his backing for the PM. Right, Amber Rudd last night at the Department for Work and Pensions
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 ??  ?? Scathing...Tory MP Andrew Bridgen
Scathing...Tory MP Andrew Bridgen

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