Boost for May in Brexit battle
MINISTERS: HEAVYWEIGHTS DECIDE NOT TO QUIT
Environment boss backs PM’s EU divorce deal and Brexit secretary is replaced.
London
British Prime Minister Theresa May received the backing of the last remaining pro-Brexit heavyweights in her Cabinet yesterday as she battled to salvage her European Union (EU) divorce deal and her job.
After a tumultuous Thursday in which four ministers resigned, MPs slammed her draft agreement and members of her own party plotted to oust her, May received key support from the top Brexiteers left in her government.
All eyes were on Environment Secretary Michael Gove, a Vote Leave figurehead in Britain’s 2016 EU membership referendum, who had stayed ominously silent as his colleagues quit around him.
But, asked yesterday if he had confidence in May, he said: “I absolutely do. It’s absolutely vital that we focus on getting the right deal in the future.”
Gove had earlier rejected an offer to replace Dominic Raab, whose decision on Thursday to quit as Brexit minister over the EU deal sparked fears the government could collapse.
Raab was replaced yesterday by Stephen Barclay, a previously little-known junior health minister and former insurance lawyer, who supported Brexit in the referendum. –