I won’t be forced to quit, May tells Tory plotters

She’ll stand and fight if Brexiteers launch challenge to her leadership

THERESA May has told allies she will not resign even if Tory plotters force a vote of no confidence in her leadership this autumn.

Senior MPs yesterday rounded on Eurosceptic rebels who discussed plans to oust the Prime Minister at a meeting of the European Research Group.

Anger at Mrs May’s Chequers deal boiled over at the meeting in Westminster attended by 45 Conservative MPs on Tuesday night.

Stunned sources said half a dozen hardline Eurosceptics called for Mrs May to go and discussed tactics for removing her. No one spoke up to defend Mrs May.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith yesterday accused the rebels of indulging in ‘stupid personality nonsense’.

He said he opposed the Chequers deal but talk of a coup was ‘totally overblown’ and he would ‘stamp’ on any that he found.

Mr Duncan Smith, who was not the meeting, added: ‘You get 50 MPs of any political party together and you’re always going to get some that are going to start arguing the toss about ridiculous issues.

‘All I would say to them is: Stop it, it’s just stupid. If you’ve got nothing better to do, go and find yourself some work, because that’s the best cure for stupid personality nonsense.’

Downing Street played down the significance of the plot yesterday.

Privately, aides to the Prime Minister are resigned to the possibility of a challenge from the Eurosceptic wing this autumn.

But sources said Mrs May had made it clear in private she would stand and fight if rebels manage to gather the 48 signatories needed to spark a vote of no confidence.

Allies said Mrs May would fight on even if a significant number of MPs voted against her. ‘She feels a deep sense of duty about leading the country through this period and delivering Brexit,’ one said.

‘We are not complacent about the risk of a challenge. But those who are attacking her should not underestimate her determination to see the job through.’

The ERG has led Tory opposition to the Chequers deal and claims as many as 80 MPs will vote against it if Mrs May tries to push it through Parliament.

But the group is divided over tactics. While its leaders want to force Mrs May to back down and pursue a straightforward free trade deal with Brussels, some members want to remove her and replace her with a Brexiteer.

Rebel MP Andrea Jenkyns told the meeting: ‘Chequers is going to happen unless we act. The PM is the problem.’ Former whip James Duddridge said: ‘We’re being boiled alive here’.

One MP is said to have told the meeting: ‘We have to make sure we get a clean kill.’

Another said: ‘This is a fight to the death. I would be amazed if a leadership contest is not triggered straight after [Tory] conference unless she backs down.’

When discussion turned to the Conservative conference slogan ‘Opportunity 2022’, one MP shouted out: ‘Opportunity Corbyn more like.’ But others at the meeting claimed only a minority were involved. Tory MP Michael Fabricant said: ‘I attended. Reports of Theresa May’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

‘Of the 40 to 50 there, only five or six people discussed letters to the chairman of the 1922 [Committee] and they wrote ages ago. The rest of us sat in uncomfortable silence, though most of us are unhappy with Chequers.’

Michael Gove yesterday warned rebels they would put Brexit in jeopardy if they destabilised Mrs May. The Environment Secretary said: ‘This is loose talk. The critical thing is to ensure we deliver on that Brexit mandate.

‘Any diversion or any distraction from that mission means our ability to ensure that the referendum mandate that we were given is delivered, is undermined.’

ERG chairman Jacob ReesMogg, who was not present at the meeting, insisted he was seeking a change of Government policy, not a change in leadership.

‘I have long said, and repeated again and again, that the policy needs to be changed but I am supporting the person,’ he said.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis, who quit the Government over the Chequers plan, also insisted he would play no part in a coup attempt against Mrs May.

‘I disagree with her on one issue – this issue. She should stay in place because we need stability,’ he said.

Former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who presided over Tuesday’s ERG meeting, insisted the group was trying to ‘stay off’ the leadership issue.

The botched coup capped a difficult week for the ERG, which was forced to abandon plans to publish a 140-page alternative blueprint for Brexit because of fears it would not stand up to scrutiny.

Yesterday’s headlines also overshadowed a bid to get on the front foot by publishing a paper setting out the group’s proposals for resolving the Irish border problem.

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