The Post

Tory grassroots want May to go

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Theresa May will be told by her own MPs to name the date of her departure or face being ousted in June after the Conservati­ve Party’s patience with her finally ran out.

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenche­rs, will tell the prime minister that the party is preparing to change its rules to make it easier to throw out unpopular leaders if they refuse to go.

Backbenche­rs have already set June 12 as the date May will be forced out if she does not comply, exactly six months from the day she fought off the last attempt to depose her through a confidence vote in her leadership.

One MP summed up the mood in the party by saying May will be told that she cannot ‘‘Superglue herself to Downing Street like the eco-warriors’’. Tory MPs will return from their Easter break today with the anger of constituen­ts still ringing in their ears, and facing a huge new threat from Nigel Farage’s increasing­ly popular Brexit Party. Brexiteer Cabinet ministers will this morning tell May to put her Brexit deal to a parliament­ary vote for a fourth time in a last-ditch attempt to avoid the European elections.

They want May to give MPs one final chance to agree a deal with Europe by May 22, the eve of the poll, or risk being punished by voters for delaying Brexit.

It comes as a new poll shows support for Boris Johnson as May’s replacemen­t has surged among grassroots Tory members after May agreed to extend Article 50 until October 31.

A survey of 1100 party members by the Conservati­ve Home website found that 32 per cent of them want the former foreign secretary as prime minister, more than twice that of his nearest rival Dominic Raab on 15 per cent.

Support for Johnson has risen by 10 per centage points since the survey was last carried out in March.

MPs have been left in no doubt during their 11-day Easter break that Conservati­ve members and activists want May to quit for the sake of the party.

One minister said yesterday: ‘‘The refrain we keep hearing on the doorsteps is ’she has got to go’.’’

Brady will today chair a meeting of the executive of the 1922 Committee, where five out of six of its officers are expected to call on May to quit now.

The meeting is expected to agree that the minimum period between confidence votes in a leader should be cut from 12 months to six months, meaning May could be challenged on June 12.

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 ?? AP ?? Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a renewed challenge from her back benchers.
AP Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a renewed challenge from her back benchers.
 ??  ?? Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage

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