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Cabinet factions line up against her
THERESA May survived a confidence vote from her MPs – but now her Cabinet ministers are lining up to stab her in the back.
They know she will quit before 2022 and six of them are secretly assembling campaign teams to confidence motion against her when she briefs Parliament on last week’s string of failures.
After pulling the doomed meaningful vote on the withdrawal agreement, she survived a Tory leadership ballot. Then she was cold-shouldered at last week’s EU summit when she begged for changes to get the deal through Parliament.
But it is believed the Labour leader will wait until the delayed vote on around January 14. Mrs May insisted: “I will continue to fight for a good deal for Britain. I will not let the British people down.”
Tomorrow she will warn MPs that reopening negotiations would renew bids by France to grab our fish and Spain to nab Gibraltar.
Mrs May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will also summon EU27 ambassadors to No10 this week to secure legal backing for EU assurbid for the leadership. Should Mrs May falters before then, some are so eager they will be quick to make a move even before her body is cold.
That moment could come within weeks. Outside the Cabinet, Mrs May has to fend off DISLIKES: Pretty much everyone as no one likes him Mrs May’s most inept Cabinet minister. He brought chaos to the railways with shambolic new timetables. DISLIKES: Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, Amber Rudd Knows he has to be shrewd. Worth a bet on as next PM. DISLIKES: Sajid Javid, Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove Makings of a future PM but won’t go against Mrs May. DISLIKES: Sajid Javid, Chris Grayling, Amber Rudd Doesn’t rate Grayling, knows Javid and Rudd are rivals. DISLIKES: Liam Fox, Philip Hammond, Gavin Williamson Fox dislikes him, wants more NHS cash from Hammond. DISLIKES: Chris Grayling, Amber Rudd, Michael Gove Most ruthless, will move if PM’s fatally wounded.
DISLIKES: Michael Gove, Penny Mordaunt, Liam Fox ances that the Irish backstop is only temporary. But last night even Mrs May’s battle with Blair paled as her cabinet split into three factions.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd reportedly believes the deal has no chance of getting through Parliament – and is considering backing a second referendum. She left that out of a newspaper article, but did say Tories must join forces with Labour MPs.
She said: “We can have a fantastic post-Brexit future. But only if a coalition of those who want what’s best for this country argue a little less and compromise a little more.”
The piece was not sanctioned by No10 but is said to represent thinking in Downing Street.
Ms Rudd has had talks with Labour MPs about replacing the PM’s deal with the Norway option. That would put us in the single market and customs union with unlimited EU migration attacks from ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and two former Brexit Ministers David Davis and Dominic Raab.
Inside the Cabinet the very people who have a duty to support her are sharpening the knives. and paying the EU billions. A Labour ex-minister said: “There’s nowhere else to go. We need Cabinet leadership from Amber and others.”
Chancellor Philip Hammond and Mrs May’s effective deputy David Lidington are said to be in the Amber Rudd camp.
But another group, including Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Sajid Javid, dug in against a second referendum.
Mr Gove also favours a closer, Norway-style relationship with the EU.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Treasury Secretary Liz Truss and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt make up a third group prepared to leave the EU with no deal on March 29.
They would get support from Brexiteer rebels including Jacob Rees-Mogg and John Redwood.
But Mrs May will make it clear in a dressing down at this week’s Cabinet that it is not for ministers to advocate no deal – and nor must they campaign for another referendum.