The Scotsman

A ‘massive blow’ to PM’S hopes of heading off a rebellion among her own MPS

Q&A

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What do the resignatio­ns of Boris Johnson and David Davis mean for Theresa May? How damaging is this to the Prime Minister? This is a massive blow. The Prime Minister would have been forgiven for thinking on Sunday that she had managed to placate unhappy Cabinet Brexiteers at Chequers on Friday. Now she has lost the seventh and eighth ministers from her Cabinet since last year’s election in less than 24 hours.

They are the first to quit over a fundamenta­l difference on her Brexit platform, but one of them was the man in charge of implementi­ng that policy.

However, Mr Davis has said that he is not seeking to trigger a coup to remove the Prime Minister, and Downing

Q AStreet insiders indicated that he was seen as doing “the honourable thing”. What Mr Johnson plans to do remains to be seen. Does it mean the end of Mrs May’s premiershi­p? This is far less certain than some of her opponents appear to believe. In order to oust her as Tory leader, 48 Conservati­ve MPS would have to send letters demanding a vote of no confidence. There are believed to be around 60 backbenche­rs in the Euroscepti­c European Research Group (ERG), along with many others who would like to see a “harder” Brexit, making her vulnerable to an anti-eu revolt.

However, the ERG’S chairman, Jacob Rees-mogg, has said he has not sent a

Q A

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