Labour anger as May invites MPs to cocktail party at Chequers ‘to save her own skin’

THERESA MAY was last night accused by Labour of ‘abusing’ her official country residence to avert a leadership challenge at the Tory conference this autumn.

A leaked email obtained by The Mail on Sunday shows the Prime Minister is holding a drinks party for Tory MPs at Chequers next month, just days after returning from her summer holiday.

It is understood the event is the first part of a new bid to woo her backbenchers and dissuade them from using the conference to oust her as leader.

The email was sent by No10’s political secretary Stephen Parkinson, who is Mrs May’s longest-standing personal aide after fellow advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were forced to quit for their role in the Tories’ bungled Election campaign.

Labour frontbencher Jon Trickett claimed the evening drinks party is an ‘abuse’ of Chequers, the country house in Buckinghamshire, which is run by a trust.

Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Mr Trickett said: ‘For Theresa May to use her official ministerial residence to save her own political skin is an abuse of the system.

‘It may technically be within the rules for the PM to invite a load of Tory MPs for cocktails at Chequers but it shouldn’t be happening.

‘If Mrs May wants to plead with her backbenchers not to force her out, she could do that on Tory Party premises.’

Downing Street sources rejected the claims as ‘absurd’, insisting taxpayers would not foot the bill. Allies of Mrs May also denied the event had anything to do with fears that MPs could oust her.