MAY’S DAY BUT WHAT NEXT?
PM wins confidence vote, but future is far from clear
THERESA May has won a confidence vote of Conservative MPs – after she promised to resign before the next election.
An attempt by rebel Tories to force her out of office has failed, for now.
She was backed by 200 Conservatives in a secret ballot.
But 117 voted that she should quit. And that means more than a third of Conservative MPs have no confidence in their leader.
Under the rules of the Conservative Party, it means she has won the right to carry on as Tory leader for at least 12 months.
But the victory came after she promised to resign voluntarily at some point after Brexit takes place, on March 29, 2019, and before the next election is due in 2022.
Her opponents may also argue that the number of Conservative MPs willing to vote against her shows that she has lost authority – and should not carry on as party leader, whatever the rules say.
Northumberland Conservative MP Guy Opperman was among those making public statements of support for the Prime Minister.
The dramatic day began just before 8am, when Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, confirmed he had received 48 letters from colleagues demanding a confidence vote.
This triggered a ballot of Tory MPs on whether to remove Mrs May and hold an election for a new leader.
She needed to secure the votes of 159 Tory MPs – half the parliamentary party plus one – to keep her job.
The Prime Minister made a defiant statement outside Downing Street. She said: “I will contest that vote with everything I’ve got.”
And she then took on Labour leader at a session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons chamber, with husband Philip showing his support by watching from the public gallery.
The Prime Minister then met with Conservative MPs in a Commons committee room, where she delivered a promise to stand aside before the next general election, due in 2022.
According to reports from MPs who attended the private meeting, she said that “in my heart” she wanted to lead the party into the next election – but she knew Tory MPs had misgivings.
She also promised not to hold a snap election before 2022.
Tory MPs voted in a Commons committee room between 6pm and 8pm, and the result was announced at 9pm.
Guy Opperman, Conservative MP for Hexham, had said he would support the Prime Minister.
He said: “To indulge in a leadership contest now is completely wrong. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, is giving everything for this country and continues to work with immense integrity, grit and determination.
“I am saddened that some colleagues have decided to do this – just as the PM is having a series of international meetings trying to deliver Brexit. We should be getting behind Theresa May in these difficult times”
Northumberland Conservative Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, did not reveal how she voted but said in a statement that she would “take time” to think about it.
She stressed the could not support Theresa May’s proposed Brexit withdrawal agreement without major changes.
“On how we proceed with ensuring we deliver Brexit, despite many voices in Parliament determined to ignore the result of the referendum, as I have said since the Prime Minister unveiled her deal with the EU – there is much in the deal to be celebrated and which would honour the result of the referendum.
“However, the Northern Ireland Protocol – the “backstop” – if triggered would force us into a perpetual customs union that we could never leave, which is unacceptable.”