May to resign if Brexit deal passes

In an emotionally-charged speech before her Conservative colleagues, British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded for them to back her Brexit deal in exchange for her stepping down.

May said she would resign early, despite her clear, stated preference to remain in office.

George Freeman, a former adviser, said she had “tears not far from her eyes” as she admitted she had fallen short.

He said May admitted making “many mistakes” and said she was “only human.” Freeman said that behind closed doors May said, “I beg you, colleagues, vote for the withdrawal agreement and I will go.”

The crowded room fell silent at that point. “She is falling on her sword, putting country before party and career, and is asking them to do the same. You could hear a pin drop in that room,” Freeman said.

But there is still no guarantee that May’s Brexit deal will pass even if it goes before parliament either Thursday or Friday.

More than two dozen hardline Tory Brexiteers have changed position in the last few days to say they would now back May’s deal. Even former foreign minister Boris Johnson — one of the favourites MAY PROMISES TO RESIGN IF HER DEAL PASSES — BUT OBSTACLES REMAIN to replace May as leader — said Wednesday he would vote to accept the deal.

“I have done this on behalf of the 17.4 million people who voted for Brexit. I feel very, very sorry and though it fills me with pain, I’m going to have to support this thing,” he said. “I genuinely think that unless this thing gets through, the House of Commons is going to steal Brexit.”

After Johnson’s announcement, a “trickle” of Brexiteers supporting the deal turned into a “flood.”

Johnson’s colleague Zac Goldsmith said: “Boris is absolutely right to back the deal … His intervention might just save Brexit.”

However, another Brexiteer and Tory Steve Baker said he was in a “ferocious rage” after May’s “pantomime” announcement.

“I could tear this place down and bulldoze it into the river,” he told members of the anti-eu European Research Group. “These fools and knaves and cowards are voting on things they don’t even understand.”

Despite the last-minute shift from many, it is believed there are still more than 50 Tory MPS opposed to the deal, meaning the chances of it passing were remote. The deal was voted down by a majority of 149 earlier this month, meaning 75 MPS need to switch sides to pass it.

In a further major blow to the prime minister, the Democratic Unionist Party propping up May’s government said it would vote against the deal.

Arlene Foster, the Northern Irish party’s leader, said she would never agree to “something that threatens the Union”, adding that protecting the Union would “always come first”.

And actually getting the so-called third meaningful vote before parliament is still in doubt after the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, suggested he may not allow it to be tabled.

On Wednesday, Bercow confirmed an earlier ruling this month that unless there were “substantial” changes to the agreement, he would not allow it to go before the House.

And he warned the government against trying to circumvent his ruling.

“Therefore in order that there should be no misunderstanding I wish to make clear that I do expect the government to meet the test of change,” he said.

Later, in a day of high drama in parliament, May told Conservative MPS she was “prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party”.

“I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party. I know there is a desire for a new approach, and new leadership, in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations and I won’t stand in the way of that,” she said.

“I know some people are worried that if you vote for the withdrawal agreement, I will take that as a mandate to rush on into phase two without the debate we need to have. I won’t — I hear what you are saying.”

If parliament finally passed the deal, Britain would leave the EU on May 22 and a Tory leadership contest would begin days after that, with May staying in a caretaker role until her successor was appointed.

If May’s deal was not approved by parliament Downing Street said she would carry on to seek an alternative solution.

However, what that alternative could be is unclear. On Wednesday night lawmakers rejected all eight alternatives to May’s deal put forward in a series of socalled “indicative votes.”

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, parliamentary correspondent Michael Deacon said if May’s deal failed to pass then “presumably ... May’s job is safe.”

“Because, according to her own reasoning, she goes if she succeeds, and stays if she fails,” he wrote. “Oh God. When will this unprecedented, unpredictable and yet at the same time unbelievably tedious nightmare end?”