May rebuffs appeals to name her exit date
Eurosceptics put pressure on Prime Minister during three hours of ‘frank’ discussions at Chequers
THERESA MAY was told she must set a date for her departure during crunch talks with Eurosceptics at Chequers amid warnings that her deal will be defeated in the Commons.
The Prime Minister invited Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Iain Duncan Smith, Jacob Rees-mogg, Steve Baker and David Davis to her country retreat for last-ditch talks. During three hours of “frank” discussions she issued an appeal for them to support her deal and said Britain faces a significantly softer Brexit if it fails to pass in the Commons.
The Daily Telegraph was told that several of those present, including Jacob Rees-mogg, the leading Eurosceptic, asked her to set a timetable for her departure.
However, Mrs May declined to do so and subsequently refused to be drawn on the matter when it was raised again.
A Downing Street source said the Prime Minister is concerned that setting a date for her departure will look “weak” and could damage her attempts to pass her deal through the Commons.
The source said that Mrs May is only willing to do so once she knows that she “has the numbers” to win the vote in the Commons.
Mr Johnson, the former foreign secretary, asked the Prime Minister to set out how she would change her approach in the second phase of negotiations.
However, Mrs May was said to have given little detail on her plans. She has previously suggested that the Department for Exiting the European Union could be restructured.
The Prime Minister focused her warnings on indicative votes in the Commons this week, which will be held on alternative Brexit approaches. Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, and David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, were both said to have praised the Prime Minister for her leadership.
Their contributions were met with amusement by Eurosceptics as both have been named as potential caretaker prime ministers to replace Mrs May if there is a Cabinet coup.
Cabinet ministers believe the Prime Minister will face an “inevitable” defeat if her deal is brought back to the Commons this week.
A Downing Street spokesman last night indicated that the Government may delay holding a third vote this week. The spokesman said: “The PM and a number of government ministers met today at Chequers for lengthy talks with senior colleagues about delivering Brexit.
“The meeting discussed a range of issues, including whether there is sufficient support in the Commons to bring back a meaningful vote this week.”
The Prime Minister was today expected to set out plans to give the Commons a series of meaningful votes on Brexit, including on a second referendum, customs union, the single market and revoking Article 50.
Mr Gove said he was “terrified” by the prospect of backbench Tory MPS pushing the UK into membership of the single market after Brexit.
Mr Rees-mogg arrived at the meeting with his 11-year-old son, Peter, who met Mrs May and was given a tour of Chequers while the meeting took place. Mr Duncan Smith arrived in his Morgan sports car. Others attending included Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative Party, and Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary. Alistair Burt, a pro-european foreign minister, and Damian Green, the Prime Minister’s former deputy, were also present.
Cabinet ministers increasingly believe that the Prime Minister will have no choice but to embrace no deal if she is to have any chance of surviving. However, doing so is likely to trigger a backlash from Remain ministers, who have pre- viously threatened to stage mass resignations if the Prime Minister backs that option. Mrs May is said to have indicated that no deal will be taken off the table.
One Cabinet minister told The Telegraph: “If we get the Prime Minister’s deal through that’s brilliant, but it looks increasingly unlikely. It feels like she is running out of options – it’s time for her to embrace a managed no deal.”
The Telegraph disclosed last week that Sir Graham Brady, head of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPS, visited the Prime Minister last week to tell her that growing numbers of Tory MPS believe it is time for her to go.
His visit to Downing Street came after he was “bombarded with text messages” and urged to confront the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson also reminded the Prime Minister during a meeting last week of her pledge to Tory MPS that she would only serve “as long as you want me” in the wake of the disastrous 2017 snap election.
She is said to have made clear that she has no intention of standing aside.
I don’t think that I’ve any wish to take over from the PM (who) I think is doing a fantastic job. David Lidington
I’m not sure there’s a majority in Parliament... for a second referendum, but it’s a perfectly coherent proposition Philip Hammond
The risk of a general election increases because you potentially have a situation where Parliament is instructing the executive to do something that is counter to what it was elected to do Stephen Barclay
What happened over the last four days is as close to a national humiliation as I have seen Iain Duncan Smith
It is not the time to change the captain of the ship... what we need to do is to chart the right course, and the Prime Minister has charted that right course by making sure that we have a deal that honours the referendum mandate Michael Gove