NOW JUST LET HER GET ON WITH IT
■ May wins confidence vote but accepts many Tory MPs want her out ■ Tearful Theresa tells party she’ll quit by next election ■ PM has ‘renewed mission’ to deliver Brexit people want
A DETERMINED Theresa May last night vowed to deliver Brexit after surviving a bid to force her out by offering to stand down before the next general election.
The Prime Minister won a vote of confidence in her leadership by 200 votes to 117.
Outside 10 Downing Street Mrs May accepted that a “significant” number of Conservative MPs had voted against her but said she now wanted to “get on with the job”.
She added: “Here is our renewed mission – delivering the Brexit that people
voted for, bringing the country back together and building a country that truly works for everyone.”
The result meant more than a third of Tory MPs wanted her to quit, almost certainly emboldening Eurosceptics to continue their attacks on her handling of the EU negotiations.
In a last-ditch plea to win over wavering MPs, she made a highly emotional commitment to quit before 2022. Her remark was seen as a promise to leave within around 18 months to give her successor time to prepare to go to the polls.
MPs said her eyes were moist and her voice quavered as she set the deadline on her premiership. Several Cabinet ministers were said to be in tears as she spoke.
Downing Street aides were relieved that the result ended any hopes of rebels toppling her before the UK’s scheduled departure from the EU on March 29 next year.
After the result was announced, Mrs May faced the cameras in Downing Street and promised to “get on” with Brexit.
“Following this ballot we now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit for the British people and building a better future for this country,” she said. She urged politicians “on all sides to come together and act in the national interest.”
Mrs May insisted she was heading to Brussels seeking “legal and political assurances” to limit the controversial backstop border mechanism that has outraged many of her critics.
Mrs May acknowledged there had been a significant vote against her in the confidence ballot. “I’ve listened to what they said.”
She also said that politicians needed to focus on other “vital” issues that matter to voters and repeated her vow to deliver “a country that works for everyone.”
Under Tory party rules, it means another no-confidence vote cannot be triggered for at least another year.
Leading Brexiteer Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg described the result as “terrible” for the Prime Minister.
He said: “She ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign.”
After surviving the attempted coup the Prime Minister heads to a
summit of European leaders in Brussels today to resume her drive to wring extra concessions out of the EU to improve her Brexit deal.
But even her allies were acknowledging her authority had been dented by her signal for an end date
for her time in office. Some were concerned it would lead to her being seen as a “lame duck”.
Senior Tories including Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid and Esther McVey were understood to be gathering support for a future leadership contest that some party insiders think could come as early as next year.
At a crammed and highly charged meeting of Tory MPs in a stiflingly hot Commons committee room last night, the Prime Minister pleaded for more time to wring concessions out of the EU to improve her widely criticised Brexit deal.
She became emotional when acknowledging that she would not get the chance to make amends for last year’s general election disappointment by leading the party into the next poll.
“In my heart of hearts I want to make up for the last election but I know that you don’t want me to,” the Prime Minister told her MPs, adding that it was not her “intention” to fight the next election.
Mrs May went on to rule out a poll before 2022, saying: “I am not going to be calling a snap election.”
Insiders at the meeting described her speech as “very passionate and emotional”.
Senior backbencher Sir Nicholas
Soames called her speech “terrific, resolute and gutsy”.
After the meeting Solicitor General Robert Buckland said: “She said ‘In my heart I would like to lead the party into the next election’ and then that was the introductory phrase to her indication that she would accept the fact that would not happen, that is not her intention.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, one of the Prime Minister’s closest Cabinet allies, said: “She was very clear that she won’t be taking the general election in 2022.”
But Brexiteer rebels claimed the Prime Minister had left herself some room for changing her plans.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the ringleaders of the attempt to eject her from office, said: “She said it was not her intention to fight the next election. Intention is one of those politician’s dangerous words that one should never rely on.” Earlier one of the Prime Minister’s spokesmen suggested she could quit soon after delivering Brexit next year if the departure goes according to schedule.
“This vote isn’t about who leads the party into the next election. It’s about whether it makes sense to change leader at this point in the Brexit negotiations,” he said.
‘We need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit’
‘We must build a better future for this country’
‘All sides must come together in the national interest’