Brady: ‘Not enough letters to trigger leadership challenge’
SIR GRAHAM Brady yesterday confirmed that party rebels had so far failed to submit enough letters to trigger a confidence vote in Theresa May’s leadership.
The MP, who is chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, said the threshold of 48 letters had not been reached.
Twenty-five Tory MPs have so far publicly claimed to have submitted letters. But it is not known whether any others have secretly joined the petition.
Sir Graham also predicted it was “very likely” Mrs May would win a vote if one was triggered.
He said that under party rules she could then not be challenged again for another 12 months, which he claimed would be a “huge relief” as people would stop asking him about the letters.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked that question everyday,” he said in a BBC radio interview yesterday. “I get asked it in the supermarket, I get asked it walking down the street, and I’m afraid the answer to you is just the same as it is to everybody else.
“I’ve become very nervous about counting, or saying numbers in case people think I’m referring to something that I’m not.”
Sir Graham confirmed that he had not even told his wife or his parliamentary assistant how many letters he had received.
The two vice-chairmen of his committee had also not been told, he said. The Altrincham and Sale West MP said the issue of the letters was the only instance where he felt some Tory MPs could not be trusted to tell the truth.
He said: “Some years ago, I certainly had the experience of someone claiming publicly to have written me a letter when they hadn’t.”
The Leave supporter also said he was “not happy” with every aspect of the Brexit deal, adding: “I think what I will do is look very carefully at the package as a whole.”