New strain on PM as Mcvey refuses to back Chequers plan
A CABINET minister yesterday refused to publicly endorse Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan as the Prime Minister faced a fresh threat to her leadership from backbench Tory MPS.
Esther Mcvey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, failed to directly back Mrs May’s negotiating blueprint, but said the Prime Minister would deliver the Brexit “Britain voted for”.
Meanwhile, Mrs May’s position was placed under increased strain as it emerged that Philip Davies, a prominent Tory Brexiteer and Ms Mcvey’s partner, submitted a letter of no confidence in the PM’S leadership.
Mr Davies said he had “lost trust” in Mrs May’s ability to deliver Brexit. He also wrote to voters in his constituency in Shipley, West Yorks, to tell them her Chequers plan was “unacceptable”.
The Prime Minister would face a confidence vote if Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, received letters from 48 MPS and Westminster was rife with speculation about how many letters had already been submitted. Mr Davies is the third Tory MP to go public, after Andrew Bridgen and Andrea Jenkyns, but the total number of letters submitted is thought to be significantly higher.
Mrs May’s authority has been brought into question in recent weeks after her Chequers plan prompted the resignations of David Davis and Boris Johnson from her Cabinet.
Asked at a think tank event in London if she had confidence in Mrs May’s Chequers plan, Ms Mcvey said: “I will say that I have full confidence in the Prime Minister to deliver the Brexit that Britain voted for.”
Ms Mcvey was one of a number of Leave-backing ministers who joined Mr Johnson for crisis talks before the Chequers Cabinet “away day” and she has noticeably not backed the document publicly since it was agreed.
Mrs May would need to win the support of more than half the 316 Conservative MPS to survive a challenge.
Defeat for the Prime Minister would mean an election to choose a new leader. However, if she won the vote, she could not be challenged in the same way again for another year.