Poll: 49% want May to resign

JOHNSON is preparing a new bid to become British prime minister as Theresa May’s grip on No.10 becomes increasingly fragile. And talk of his leadership bid came as Mrs May was rocked by a new poll that found half of voters want her to quit.

The Survation poll found that 49% of voters want Mrs May to resign, with only 38% wanting her to stay put.

And out of the contenders to replace her, Mr Johnson outscores his nearest rival, Chancellor Philip Hammond, by a margin of more than two to one.

A separate survey of Tory supporters by the Conservative Home website found that twothirds wanted Mrs May to resign immediately.

Few Tory MPs believe she will still be in No. 10 by the end of the summer after losing 13 Tory seats – squandering the party’s previous working majority of 12.

Mr Johnson’s supporters are being careful to say that he will not take any action while Mrs May remains in No.10 – but the fact that his allies are actively briefing about his virtues will be seen in Downing Street as destabilising.

Such is the febrile atmosphere that allies of Mr Johnson are claiming he has secured the support of Michael Gove. But friends of Mr Gove – who fell out spectacularly with Mr Johnson during last year’s Tory leadership contest – dispute this.

Mrs May last night won the backing of the DUP in order to shore up her precarious position, in a deal that would offer her the prospect of a working majority in the Commons. Mrs May’s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, stepped down yesterday amid criticism of the power they wielded in Downing Street.

Mrs May is expected to face a grilling by the party’s powerful 1922 Committee of backbenchers this week, where she is likely to face hard questions about the election result.

The turmoil has forced her to delay a planned reshuffle of her middle-ranking ministers until today. She is being urged to appoint a formal deputy prime minister to shore up her position, with Brexit secretary David Davis the favourite for the job.

Respondents in the Survation poll were scathing about Mrs May’s campaign performance, with only 16% of the opinion she had put in the best performance, compared to 67% arguing for Jeremy Corbyn. Asked why she failed, the most common answer, 27%, was the dementia tax.