MOGG MUGS MAY
Plotters to back her deal… if she quits
TORY Brexiteers are plotting to demand Theresa May’s job as the price to push through her EU deal.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s rebel European Research Group want her to quit as PM after local elections on May 2.
In return they will vote for her deal in Parliament so she can hit her March 29 deadline for the UK to leave the EU.
A Tory leadership contest would take place over the summer – with the ERG backing their champion, Boris Johnson.
The new PM would be crowned at the Tory Party conference in September.
The plotters calculate they can hold Mrs May to ransom because she cares more about getting Brexit on her terms than she does about being PM.
An insider said: “The PM believes in getting things done – and there’s nothing bigger than delivering Brexit.
“If she can pull that off she’ll have her legacy. And she’ll feel her work is done.”
EU negotiators are adamant they will not reopen the withdrawal agreement, which includes the controversial “Irish backstop” to protect the open border.
But they have indicated they can give legal assurances, to appease Brexiteers, that the measure will be temporary.
As things stand at least 20 hardcore ERG backbenchers will not back Mrs May’s deal – either with or without changes to the backstop. But if they think they can get Boris for PM, it is expected they will back down.
With the ERG on board, and 20 Labour rebels who Mrs May is trying to bribe with cash for their constituencies, the PM will have enough votes to get across the line. And she will be home and dry if the DUP come back on board. But Lib Dem Jo Swinson, the Employment Relations minister in David Cameron’s coalition government, today warns Labour MPs not to be fooled by the PM’s pledges on worker rights.
She tells them in a letter: “I strongly urge you to not believe her promises.
“I have seen first- hand what the Conservative Party is determined to do.”
She cites plans to scrap maternity rights, allow firing of staff without reason, and the then Chancellor George Osborne giving workers shares in return for their workplace rights.
She warns: “Outside the EU there is no way to stop [the Tories] ditching Mrs May’s meaningless commitments.”
In an appeal to her MPs yesterday, the PM wrote: “History will judge us all. We stand now at a crucial moment.
“A failure to make the compromises necessary to deliver on the result of the referendum will let down the people who sent us to represent them.”
Mrs May will fly to Brussels this week for more talks with EU chiefs.