Statements of support from Cabinet colleagues

THERESA May had vowed yesterday morning to fight an effort to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister “with everything I’ve got”.

In a statement outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May warned a change of Prime Minister would put the UK’s future at risk and could delay or halt Brexit.

She insisted she would stay on to “finish the job” she has set herself as Prime Minister.

Mrs May’s statement came about an hour after it was confirmed the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, had received the 48 letters of no confidence from Tory MPs required to trigger a ballot on the leadership.

Immediate statements of loyalty for the Prime Minister were issued by Cabinet ministers, including several who have been named as potential contenders to be her successor.

Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Michael Gove, Philip Hammond, Matt Hancock, Penny Mordaunt, Liam Fox, Steve Barclay, David Lidington, Amber Rudd, Chris Grayling, David Gauke and James Brokenshire were among those making statements of support.

Mrs May said securing a Brexit deal which will deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum is “now within our grasp”, and added she is “making progress” in securing reassurances from EU leaders on MPs’ concerns about the proposed backstop for the Irish border.

But she warned: “A change of leadership in the Conservative Party now would put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it.”

A new leader could not be in place by the January 21 deadline by which the PM must confirm an agreement in principle had been reached with Brussels on a Brexit deal, she said.