UNRIVALLED REPORTS AND ANALYSIS
Party rallies behind PM ... but rebels vow they’ll carry on ‘guerilla war’
THE room exploded with applause when Sir Graham Brady read the news: Theresa May had seen off the plotters.
Ministers and Tory moderates seized on the result as a vindication of her leadership, and urged hardliners to help the Government to deliver Brexit.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt declared: ‘Huge congrats to Theresa May whose stamina, resilience and decency has again won the day and given her the chance to deliver Brexit for our country.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who supported Leave, said the result was a ‘clear statement by the parliamentary party that they want her to lead us through Brexit’.
The Prime Minister’s victory came just weeks after Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, was humiliated when he first launched his abortive coup.
Mr Rees-Mogg’s supporters said the ERG would easily be able to get the 48 letters needed to launch a no-confidence vote – but in the end it took much longer than he had claimed, with the threshold only being reached on Tuesday.
Loyal supporters of Mrs May demanded the group learn the lesson of their defeat, unite behind the PM and support the Withdrawal Agreement.
But, despite this, the ERG pledged to continue their ‘guerilla warfare’ against the Prime Minister’s deal. Mr Rees-Mogg claimed it was a ‘terrible result for the Prime Minister’ and that the ‘overwhelming majority of her backbenchers have voted against her’.
‘Of course I accept this result, but Theresa May must realise that under all constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t have the confidence of the House of Commons and should make way for someone who does.’
There was widespread anger among moderate Tory MPs yesterday over the ‘self-indulgent’ behaviour of those who had finally managed to trigger a confidence vote in Mrs May. Philip Hammond, who strongly backed Remain, went so far as to say that the vote represented a perfect opportunity to ‘flush out the extremists’ in the Conservative Party.
The comments sparked such anger among pro-Leave MPs that Mrs May was forced to slap the Chancellor down at her meeting with backbenchers last night, telling them: ‘There are no extremists in this party’.
But a source at the ERG made it clear their implacable opposition to the Withdrawal Agreement would go on. ‘The campaign of guerilla warfare will continue,’ he said. ‘Why on earth does anyone think anyone opposed to the Withdrawal Agreement would drop their fight should May be confirmed in place as leader?’
It is unclear if the Tory rebels would go as far as abstaining in a vote if Labour tries to bring a noconfidence motion in the Government, which could bring it down.
Yesterday, the Tory MP for Wells, James Heappey, was among those to demand that the hard Brexiteers finally unite behind Mrs May. He tweeted: ‘Dear ERG, for two years your battle cry has been that people spoke in referendum and despite tight margin of victory, result must be respected absolutely. I assume that if PM wins tonight – even if only by one vote – you’ll be applying same logic and supporting her in full thereafter?’
Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the Eurosceptics in her party were ‘always going to be very difficult to please’.
But she added: ‘I hope we will be able to settle this and unite – because otherwise the real danger to our communities will be a Labour government.’
Mr Hammond told Sky News: ‘I think what this vote today will do is flush out the extremists who are trying to advance a particular agenda which would really not be in the interests of the British people or the British economy. Leaving the European Union without a deal would be bad for Britain.’
And Remain-backing Tory MP Anna Soubry attacked the ERG, describing them as ‘a rump of hardRight, hard Brexiteers’.
‘They should have been booted out by previous leaders,’ she said.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood also criticised the ERG, accusing it of ‘hijacking’ Brexit and comparing it to the Right-wing Tea Party movement in the US.
Even International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who was feared to be on the brink of resigning over Mrs May’s Brexit deal, said: ‘Prime Minister wins confidence motion with 63% of the vote. Now let’s crack on with getting the changes we need to the deal on offer and press on with nodeal preparations. We are leaving the EU in 15 weeks.’
Former Cabinet minister Damian Green said he hoped ‘this will silence the Brexit hardliners’, allowing the Tories to ‘move on and get on with the job in hand’ of negotiating a Brexit deal.