Ousting me won’t help, warns May
THERESA May took a swipe at Tory rivals threatening to unseat her as party leader as she warned the next seven days would be “critical” to achieving a successful Brexit.
The Prime Minister warned that a change of leadership would not make it easier to get a deal past parliament or the EU, after furious Brexiteer backbenchers started moves to remove her.
She said that as far as she knew, the 48-letter threshold for letters of no confidence needed to start a leadership battle had yet to be reached.
In a message to those plotting her downfall, including members of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs, she said she had not considered quitting.
She added: “A change of leadership at this point isn’t going to make the negotiations any easier and it isn’t going to change the parliamentary arithmetic. What it will do is bring in a degree of uncertainty. That is uncertainty for people and their jobs.
“What it will do is mean that it is a risk that we delay the negotiations and that is a risk that Brexit gets delayed or frustrated.”
Mrs May’s interview came after former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, whose res- ignation last week was a key point in one of her most brutal weeks as PM, suggested she had failed to stand up to a bullying EU.
There were also continuing reports of a plan by senior Cabinet ministers who remain in Government to try to alter the withdrawal agreement at the 11th hour.
Mr Raab said he supported the Prime Minister, but not her deal, adding: “I want her to get this right.”
But he also confirmed he had been speaking with Andrea Leadsom and other ministers looking to change her deal.
He warned MPs against submitting no confidence letters to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, saying: “It’s a total distraction from what we need to do, we need to get Brexit over the line, we need to support our PM.
“I have worked very closely with her on Brexit and I think there is still the opportunity to get this right, support the Prime Minister – but she must also listen and change course on Brexit.”
Asked if she had considered stepping down, Mrs May said: “No I haven’t.
She added that the next seven days “are going to be critical”, and said she would be travelling back to Brussels to talk with key figures including Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president ahead of an emergency European Council summit on November 25.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has poured cold water on calls for Labour to back a second referendum, saying it was “an option for the future” but “not an option for today”.
The Labour leader also revealed that if there was another referendum, he did not know how he would vote.
He added: “I don’t think you call a referendum and then say you don’t like the result and go away from it, you’ve got to understand why people voted and negotiate the best deal you can.”