Leadership war on cards for summer

TORY Party chiefs are gearing up for a summer leadership contest in preparation for Theresa May quitting, the Daily Mail has learned.

Senior officials have drawn up detailed plans for hustings between leadership candidates, including scouting locations across the country, sources said.

Details of the preparations come as a string of Eurosceptic Tory MPs called for Mrs May to resign after she agreed to delay Brexit further.

But in the Commons, loyalist MPs rallied behind Mrs May, telling her to ‘ignore the bullies’ and stay on to get Brexit through.

To cheers from the Tory benches, Conservative grandee Ken Clarke urged Mrs May to ‘lead the country through to the conclusion of the Brexit process’ and ignore ‘vicious attacks’ from hardliners.

Mrs May brushed off demands for her to quit and pointedly slapped down Eurosceptic MPs who did not vote for her deal, suggesting it was their fault Brexit has not happened yet.

Tory Party HQ is responsible for running the leadership contest among members, and senior sources said preparations had been made for six hustings events around the country between the two candidates who win the most nominations from MPs.

In a statement to MPs yesterday, Mrs May said she deeply regretted that the House had not passed the deal allowing for a ‘smooth and orderly Brexit’.

But Eurosceptic MPs hit back. Former international trade minister Greg Hands told the London Evening Standard: ‘It’s time that we had new leadership for both the party and the country.’

Meanwhile, hardliner Anne Marie Morris told Sky News: ‘I would like to see us having elections and a new leader in place frankly by May or June.’

She claimed the Conservative Party board and the backbench 1922 Committee were looking into whether the rules can be changed to enable a formal move to begin a leadership contest.

Meanwhile leadership contender Boris Johnson wrote on social media: ‘We now face the farce of EU elections nearly three years after the British people voted to leave.

‘The Government has ditched every major commitment it made to the country. We must change course and deliver what the people voted for.’

Currently leaders have a year’s grace between challenges, and Mrs May fought off an attempted coup in December.

But Cabinet ministers argued the length of the extension made it more likely Mrs May would stay since any new leader would barely be in place before having to face extending Article 50.

One Cabinet minister said: ‘I just think she will keep buggering on. No one has much of an alternative anyway.’

Other MPs voiced support for Mrs May staying on. Sir Oliver Heald told the Commons there is not enough time to hold a leadership contest ahead of October 31, while former work and pensions minister Sarah Newton urged Mrs May to ‘ignore the bullies’.

Former education secretary Nicky Morgan said: ‘To use this six months to have a leadership contest would be the height of self-indulgence.’

‘Height of self-indulgence’