May carries on amid rumblings of mutiny
Embattled British PM meets with cabinet ministers
LONDON— Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed ministers to her shaky government Sunday, as some Conservative colleagues rallied to support her — and others said her days were numbered after last week’s disastrous election.
May is seeking a deal with a Northern Irish party to prop up the Conservative minority government, and lawmakers said the rebuff from voters meant the government would have to abandon planned policies and rethink its strategy for European Union exit talks.
A stream of senior lawmakers entered her office at 10 Downing St. on Sunday to learn what roles they had been given in government.
May’s weakened position in the party rules out big changes to the Cabinet lineup. Downing St. has already said that the most senior ministers — including Treasury chief Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd — will keep their jobs.
As rumours swirled about plots to oust May, Johnson denied he was planning a leadership challenge. He tweeted that an article in the Mail on Sunday newspaper headlined “Boris set to launch bid to be PM as May clings on” was “tripe.”
“I am backing Theresa May. Let’s get on with the job,” he said.
The Conservatives lost their parliamentary majority in Thursday’s election — a vote May called in a bid to strengthen her mandate ahead of exit talks with the EU. Instead, she has left Britain’s government ranks in disarray, days before the divorce negotiations on June 19.
May’s party won 318 seats, 12 fewer than it had before the snap election, and eight short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. Labour surpassed expectations by winning 262.
Former Treasury chief George Osborne — who was fired by May last year — called May a “dead woman walking,” and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was ready to contest another election at any time.
Many senior Conservatives say May should stay, for now, to provide stability. But few believe she can hang on for more than a few months.
“I think her position is, in the long term, untenable,” Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry told Sky News.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon disagreed that May was mortally wounded and said he expected the Tory members of Parliament to support the prime minister this week.
Graham Brady, who chairs the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative lawmakers, said a “self-indulgent” party leadership campaign would only cause more uncertainty.
He acknowledged that the government would be unable to get many of the measures promised in its election platform through Parliament.
To stay in power, the Conservatives are seeking support from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. May’s office said Saturday that principles of an agreement had been reached, but the two sides later clarified that they are still talking. With files from The Washington Post