May battles on but is preparing to bow out

PM wins vote but says she will not lead Tories into next election, likely in 2022

Theresa May has urged her party to “come together” after seeing off an attempt by rebel backbenchers to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

She won a confidence vote of the 317 Conservative MPs by a margin of 200 to 117 in a secret ballot at Westminster.

However, she sowed the seeds for her eventual departure by telling Tory MPs she would not lead the party into the next general election, expected in 2022.

And she immediately faced calls to resign from Brexit-backing MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said she had lost the confidence of more than one-third of her MPs and a majority of backbenchers.

Speaking in Downing Street moments after the result was announced, Mrs May acknowledged a “significant” number of her MPs had voted against her and said: “I have listened to what they said.”

She pledged to seek “legal and political assurances” on the Brexit backstop to allay MPs’ concerns about her Withdrawal Agreement when she attends a European Council summit in Brussels today.

And she said she and her administration had a “renewed mission”, saying: “Following this ballot, we now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit for the British people and building a better future for this country.”

She said this must involve “politicians of all sides coming together and acting in the national interest”.

However, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “It’s a terrible result for the Prime Minister, it really is.”

With the “payroll vote” of ministers, parliamentary aides and trade envoys all likely to have backed Mrs May, a majority of the remaining 160-170 backbenchers voted no confidence in her, he said.

“Of course I accept this result, but the Prime Minister must realise under all constitutional norms, she ought to go to see the Queen urgently and resign.”

The vote was triggered by party grandee Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, early yesterday after he received letters of no confidence in the PM from at least 15% of the parliamentary party.

In a day of high drama, a defiant Mrs May vowed to fight “with everything I’ve got” to defend her position, warning a change in prime minister might mean Brexit being delayed or halted.

In an early morning statement outside 10 Downing Street, she said securing a Brexit deal which will deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum was “now within our grasp” and said she was “making progress” in securing reassurances from EU leaders on MPs’ concerns about the proposed backstop for the Irish border.

Every MP in her Cabinet swiftly issued statements of support and she was greeted by loud cheers from the Tory backbenches when she faced the House of Commons for her weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Mrs May’s victory in the confidence vote means another challenge cannot be mounted against her position as Tory leader for a year.

However, she still faces the danger of a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons, which could bring her Government down if backed by more than half of all MPs.

Picture: Getty. Prime Minister Theresa May gives a speech after winning the confidence vote yesterday, though almost 120 Tory MPs voted against her continuing as PM.