Isolated prime minister battles on alone
of Commons rejected by 432 votes to 202 the deal she struck with Brussels last year after 18 months of negotiation.
Moments later, she vowed to limp on and fight a parliamentary no-confidence vote.
May has already survived a party no-confidence vote in December, displaying characteristic determination when backed into a corner.
She has also been protected by the inability of any serious challengers to form alliances and depose her, with the toxic Brexit issue dissolving traditional political bonds.
May made it her mission to With no Brexit plan Britain is lost and adrift, Jonathan Freedland writes.
carry out the wishes of voters who backed the Brexit referendum in June 2016 when she became premier the following month. But Brexit backers have always been suspicious of having a Remain supporter — which May was before the referendum — leading negotiations.
And MPs who opposed Brexit want her to stick tighter to the EU or call for a second referendum that could potentially nullify the first one’s result.
Despite carrot-and-stick attempts to cajole her colleagues to back her, she was on Tuesday once again forced into making a chastening address after her humiliating defeat.
Shortly before Christmas, she was forced to acknowledge the weakness of her position, telling Conservative colleagues she would not fight the next scheduled election in 2022 as she uncomfortably defeated the internal coup. ■ ‘Humiliated’: British press says May ‘crushed’ by defeat