The coup crumbles

Humiliation as plotters have only half the MPs they need

The plot to topple Theresa May was losing momentum last night amid infighting and splits among the Brexiteers.

Senior eurosceptics had claimed yesterday would be the ‘moment of truth’ when they would secure the 48 names needed to force a vote of no confidence in the PM.

But in a humiliating development just one more MP went public yesterday, while two others named as plotters suggested they might not have written letters, tak-

ing the confirmed number of rebels down by one to 24. The plotters were also facing a growing backlash from Tory moderates who fear bringing down Mrs May could wreck Brexit or usher in a Corbyn government. Foreign Secretary Jeremy hunt said those seeking to remove Mrs May risked ‘the most appalling chaos that could be immenselyaged damaging to our national reputation, but also destabilising and potentially stop us getting through to the other side of Brexit’.

he said Mrs May was ‘by far the best-placed person’ to ensure the UK left europe on friendly terms, adding: ‘Backing her is the right thing to do.’

And in a comment apparently aimed at plot leader Jacob ReesMogg and fellow Old etonian Boris Johnson, the former minister nick Boles said: ‘Do my colleagues not understand how normal people react when they see a group of middlemen, led by two plummytoned Old etonians, trying to bully a conscientious and determined woman out of her job?’ Failure to hit the 48 target led to recriminations last night within the european Research Group (eRG) behind the plot. There was anger that a number of senior Brexiteers – including Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Priti Patel and Sir Bernard Jenkin – have not publicly backed the plot despite denouncing Mrs May’s deal. One MP who had submitted a letter said: ‘Where are these great titans of Brexit? The answer is, they’ve bottled it.’

But senior MPs hit back at the plotters, singling out former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who said last week the 48 names were in the bag. A source said: ‘even as a Tory Brexiteer who would like May gone, I take delight in seeing Steve Baker publicly humiliated like this.

‘Since his resignation, he has pranced about pretending to be a statesman. he is a self-aggrandising joke and his colleagues view him as a laughing stock.’

Plans for five eurosceptic Cabinet ministers to issue an ultimatum to Mrs May over her Brexit deal this week also fizzled out, amid divisions over tactics.

And the Prime Minister appeared to buy off some senior Brexiteers, including Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Paterson, by offering to look at their proposals on the northern Ireland border.

Mr Rees-Mogg, the eRG’s chairman, and Mr Baker, the former chairman, published their letters of no confidence on Thursday and urged others to follow suit.

Mr Baker told eRG members on Friday the target had been hit, with another 12 letters in reserve. But he was later forced to backtrack.

Yesterday morning Simon Clarke, another prominent eRG member, declared the target was about to be reached. he said: ‘I think the moment of truth is upon us.’

But former minister David Jones and backbencher Marcus Fysh – said to have written letters – refused to confirm this yesterday, while eRG members Sir edward Leigh, Sir Desmond Swayne, Michael Fabricant and Jack Loprest say it is the wrong time to submit a letter.

WHAT has become of the attempted coup d’etat against Theresa May?

Last Thursday, with great fanfare, backbench MP Jacob Rees-Mogg strutted out of the House of Commons to tell the assembled media it was time for the Prime Minister to go. He was handing in a no confidence letter and a raft of others would follow in short order.

The next day, European Research Group shop steward Steve Baker confidently announced the threshold for a leadership contest had been reached. But when there was no announcement his bravado quickly vanished, and we were told it would be next week instead.

In a clear sign they have overplayed their hand, by yesterday morning the hardliners were reduced to begging their colleagues in public to follow them over the top. What a shambles!

Of course, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to assume the danger has now passed as new malcontents come forward in dribs and drabs. The saboteurs may yet creep over the line in the coming days. But without doubt they have lost momentum. With every hour that passes when the rebels cannot muster the 48 names required, Mrs May’s position grows ever stronger, especially as they are nowhere near reaching the 166 votes they would need to remove her.

And even if – heaven forbid – they were to dislodge her, then what? At this late hour, no new leader could unpick an agreement carefully crafted over many months, and which the EU insists is set in stone.

Do they think Boris Johnson could do better, a man whose skill in negotiating the purchase of water cannon as mayor of London has cost taxpayers more than £300,000? Or any of the other pretenders, all of whom would face the same brutal Parliamentary arithmetic?

No, in truth, all a confidence vote would do is plunge the Tory Party into another pointless and painful bout of infighting and undermine Mrs May when the negotiations are still going on.

Without question, it would cause dismay and disgust among voters of all persuasions who are anxious for politicians just to get on with making Brexit happen.

It would cause havoc in the markets, at a time when – as yesterday’s CBI conference showed – businesses large and small are desperate for the certainty that a deal would bring.

So in the days ahead, any Tory Leavers considering joining the rebellion should reflect that though the deal is far from perfect, the alternatives are far worse – whether the economic calamity of no deal or the very real danger of no Brexit at all.