Now let PM get on with the job!
May sees off plotters with two thirds of party behind her...
But May forced to promise that she will quit as leader before next election
THERESA May last night saw off a coup attempt by Eurosceptic rebels after promising to step down before the next election.
Tory MPs voted by 200 to 117 for her to stay on as Tory leader and Prime Minister, despite months of sabrerattling by her hardline opponents and deadlock over Brexit.
Cabinet ministers immediately demanded that her opponents give her the breathing space and support to secure an ‘orderly exit’ from the European Union.
But Mrs May’s victory, which means she cannot be challenged again for at least 12 months, came at a price. She was forced to promise she will quit before the next general election, scheduled for 2022.
The scale of yesterday’s revolt – more than a third of her MPs want her gone – will raise questions about how long she can stay in charge.
Looking chastened, Mrs May welcomed the result while acknowledging that ‘a significant number of colleagues did cast their votes against me’. She said she would pursue a ‘renewed mission – delivering the Brexit that people voted for, bringing the country back together and building a country that truly works for everyone’.
She said the situation called for ‘politicians on all sides coming together and acting in the national interest’ – an apparent plea for help from Labour.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling called the result a ‘strong vote of support’ for the PM.
Justice Secretary David Gauke said: ‘This was a very comfortable victory for Theresa May. Removing her would have been selfindulgent and irresponsible. I’m glad that a large majority agreed.’
But Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the hardline European Research Group which forced the vote, said the PM had suffered a ‘terrible result’ in which the ‘overwhelming majority of her backbenchers have voted against her’.
He said: ‘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.’
Mrs May appealed to Tory MPs not to sack her at a Commons meeting just minutes before the ballot opened last night. She pledged she would not call a snap election, and said the party’s greatest duty was to prevent Jeremy Corbyn entering No10.
One source at the meeting said she told MPs: ‘In my heart I would have loved to have led us into the next election, but I realise that we will need a new leader with new objectives for the 2022 election.’
Some ministers were said to be close to tears as the PM acknowledged that some in her own party want her gone rather than risk a repeat of last year’s disastrous election campaign.
On a day of high political drama:
Mrs May said she would demand fresh ‘legal and political’ assurances on the Irish backstop when she travels to a Brussels summit on Brexit today;
A Cabinet source said Mrs May was planning a snap reshuffle to stamp her authority on the Government;
Tory whips sparked anger by reinstating suspended MPs Andrew Griffiths and Charlie Elphicke so they could vote;
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who was ousted in a similar confidence vote in 2003, disclosed that he had voted against the Prime Minister;
Liam Fox said Mrs May’s Brexit agreement could be abandoned unless the EU offers concessions;
Chancellor Philip Hammond said the vote would ‘flush out the extremists’ on the party’s Eurosceptic wing;
Business leaders voiced dismay at the decision to stage a leadership contest at the height of the Brexit negotiations;
European Research Group members vowed to continue a campaign of ‘guerilla warfare’ against the Government.
The vote came after Tory shop steward Sir Graham Brady announced 48 MPs had written letters of no confidence in Mrs May, sparking an automatic vote under party leadership rules.
After the announcement yesterday morning, Mrs May pledged to fight the coup attempt with ‘everything I’ve got’.
She ducked questions about the exact date of her departure.
But the concession that she will not fight the next election will weaken her authority and spark a race to succeed her.
Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Amber Rudd will jostle for position against Eurosceptic former Cabinet colleagues Boris Johnson, David Davis and Dominic Raab.
Crispin Blunt, who wrote a letter of no confidence in Mrs May, urged rebels to back her, but said he still considered her Brexit plan a ‘bad deal’.
He added: ‘The leadership question is now behind us for a year and we must get behind Theresa May in delivering Brexit.’
Comment – Page 18