May clings on at No 10
Conservatives decide to keep embattled Prime Minister in power but only after she pledges to stand down before 2022 general election
THERESA May will carry on as Prime Minister after securing the backing of Conservative MPs.
Tory MPs rejected a no-confidence motion by 200 votes to 117 after May said she would stand down before 2022.
THERESA May last night survived a vote of no confidence by Tory MPs to carry on as Prime Minister.
After a day of drama at Westminster, Conservative MPs voted by 200 to 117 in favour of Mrs May.
She started the day by declaring in Downing Street she would fight with “everything I’ve got” to defeat the bid to oust her over Brexit.
There were cheers from her supporters when the result was read out at 9pm by Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee.
All 317 Conservative MPs voted in a committee room at Westminster over two hours, after Mrs May spoke to the MPs and declared her intention not to be the leader going into the next General Election in 2022.
Mrs May said she wanted to see the Brexit deal through before handing over to someone else, despite saying she would have liked to lead the party into another election but conceded that won’t be possible.
The vote brings to an end weeks of speculation that Mrs May was about to face a challenge.
It means there will can be no immediate Tory leadership election and Theresa May is safe from a challenge for at least one year.
The Prime Minister, however still has to get her Brexit deal through a ‘meaningful vote’ in Parliament and failure to achieve that could see her face a no confidence vote in the House of Commons from Labour.
Speaking outside Ten Downing Street after the result Mr May said: “It has been a long and challenging day and I’m pleased to have received the backing of my colleagues in the ballot.”
However she recognised a significant number had concerns. She added: I’ve listened to what they have said.
“We now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit and delivering for the country”
She called on politicians of all parties to “Come together in the national interest”.
The vote dashes the hopes of plotters like Boris Johnson to be Prime Minister for the time being but leaves Theresa May weakened as 117 of her own MPs have stated they do not have confidence in her and she will not be the leader at the next election.
Having lost the confidence of almost more than one third
of her MPs some within the Tories have said she should resign.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, arch Brexiteer MP who orchestrated the vote said she should still go, saying Theresa May was not the person to unite the country.
He said: “It is a terrible result for the Prime Minister.” The urgency of having a new leader has not been reduced today it has increased.
“There are 117 people who have no confidence in her as Prime Minister, the overwhelming majority of backbenchers.”
First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon was among the first to react to the result claiming it left her a “lame duck Prime Minister”.
She said:“This result is barely even a pyrrhic victory for the Prime Minister, who has now admitted her time in office is limited. She may have clung on to the Conservative leadership, but her remaining authority has been fatally undermined.
“Even after being forced into saying she would stand down soon, almost 40 per cent of her parliamentary group have voted against her, meaning presumably a majority of her backbenchers did so. In any normal situation, the Prime Minister’s position would be untenable.
“The crisis and chaos currently facing the UK is entirely a result of the vicious civil war that has engulfed the self-centred Conservative Party – at a crucial time in the UK’s history, it has a lame duck Prime Minister saddled with a lame duck Brexit deal.”
David Mundell Scottish secretary tweeted: “Prime Minister has won convincingly. Time to move on and get on with delivering an orderly exit from the EU”
Jackson Carlaw acting Scottish Tory leader said: “Time to let Theresa May deliver a Brexit deal for the whole UK.”