Backbench Tory MPs hopeful of rule change to oust Theresa May
Theresa May’s future as prime minister is hanging in the balance as Brexitsupporting members of the 1922 Committee believe they are close to securing enough support for another attempt to oust her.
Members of the Conservative backbench group of MPs will meet again on Wednesday to decide whether to change the party’s rules to permit another challenge to her leadership within weeks, after the last vote narrowly went in her favour by nine to seven.
She is currently protected by guidelines that say she cannot face another challenge from Tory MPs within 12 months of the previous no-confidence vote, which she won in December.
However, more members of the committee are thinking of backing a rule change if she does not commit to setting out a timetable for her departure, after a meeting with Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the committee.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the 1922 Committee, said on Tuesday that May must announce a “road map” for her resignation after the European elections set for 23 May.
Another member of the committee said of the prime minister’s departure: “We want certainty for an orderly and timely exit with or without a deal – and the can cannot be kicked down the road until October.”
Brady had no comment but he was expected to convey the range of views of committee members to the prime minister.
Brexit-supporting members of the committee are pushing for a contest to take place as soon as possible, with MPs agreeing a shortlist of two candidates before the summer recess and then Tory activists voting over the holiday period.
However, the committee is not unanimous in its backing for a change to the rules. Some members – even some who want May to resign – are nervous that it could look bad to alter party procedures solely with a view to ousting the prime minister. Others are worried that changing the leader without Brexit being decided one way or another could cause more problems than it solves, when parliament remains deadlocked.
Charles Walker, vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, criticised Conservative rebels who have refused to back the prime minister’s deal and accused them of unfairly “laying the blame all on her shoulders”.
“We are playing fast and loose as a party at the moment,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One. “There are colleagues who have suggested the prime minister should go, the prime minister has said that she wants to leave early in her premiership, but she doesn’t want to leave this god almighty mess ... We all need to take personal responsibility for the fact that we are still in the EU and that we are in government. This idea that a new prime minister [will] all be sweetness and light is for the birds.”
He suggested some of the 34 Conservative MPs who refused to vote for a deal might be better off defecting to another party.
“If you just feel that the Conservative party is no longer your natural home, you have to think are there other places that you would feel happier in politics,” he said.
“Three of my colleagues left to join Change UK, we are seeing other parties emerge, it might well be the case that some of my colleagues feel that some of those parties better reflect their political views.”
Another voice of caution came from Simon Hart, a Conservative MP who runs the Brexit Delivery Group of MPs pushing for a deal, who said his col
leagues should be careful what they wish for.
“Although a leadership change could feel like the pain relief that everybody yearns for, we need to be careful that we don’t end up in exactly the same place in a few weeks’ time and with it even greater disappointment,” he said.
May has promised to stand down if her Brexit deal passes but has given no indication that she would go early while the issue of leaving the EU remains unresolved.
While Tory MPs are currently powerless to hold another no-confidence motion until December, grassroots activists are planning to hold a vote on her future as soon as 15 June.
The vote by members at an extraordinary general meeting of the National Conservative Convention would not be binding, but would add pressure on May to quit if passed.
In a message to members of the convention, its chairman Andrew Sharpe said they would be asked to vote on a motion stating that “we no longer feel that Mrs May is the right person to continue as prime minister to lead us forward in the negotiations” and “therefore with great reluctance ask that she considers her position and resigns”.