‘Toppling me won’t help Brexit,’ UK PM May tells rebel Tory MPs
- Media reports suggest the number of Conservative Party members who say they have no confidence in Britain’s leader has reached 25
Theresa May has said that as far as she knows there are not yet enough Conservative MPs moving against her to spark a leadership contest and replacing her would not help deliver Brexit.
The prime minister is facing open calls for her resignation from pro-Brexit MPs after she released a much-criticised draft agreement to leave the EU.
Following a week of turmoil, in which her government lost two cabinet ministers and several junior ministers, members of the pro-leave European Research Group claimed Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, will have received enough letters to launch a party leadership contest this week.
Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News, May said she spoke to Brady at the end of last week and to her knowledge the 48 letters needed to spark a no-confidence vote in her leadership had not yet arrived.
She said her internal critics thinking of replacing her as Conservative leader should think again: “It is not going to make the [Brexit] negotiations any easier and it won’t change the parliamentary arithmetic.”