Brexit chaos: Theresa May wins leadership ballot by 200 votes to 117.
After winning leadership poll 200 to 117, Theresa May admits a ‘significant number’ voted against her but says she’ll assuage concerns.
An emotional British Prime Minister Theresa May has won a snap leadership vote of confidence after promising Tory backbenchers she would step down before the next general election.
Count official Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, announced this morning:
“The result of the ballot held this evening is that the parliamentary party does have confidence in Theresa May as leader of the Conservative party.”
Mrs May won the vote with 200 votes for and 117 against. She needed 158/9 to win a majority of the 316 Conservative MPs. The majority of 83 shows that she has less than two-thirds support of her party. Her supporters were hailing the result as affirmation of her credentials to deliver on Brexit but others insisted the less than emphatic support was underscored by the fact that at least 160 Tory MPs are on the payroll in the form of being in Cabinet, on committees or other party roles and there may have been a reluctance by them to imperil their financial security by voting out Mrs May.
After the results were announced, Mrs May went before the cameras for a brief, guarded victory speech.
“This has been a long and challneging day. But, at the end of it, I’m pleased to have received the backing of my collegaues in tonight’s ballot,” she said. “Whilst I’m grateful for that support, a significant number of colleagues did cast a vote against me and I have listened to what they said.
“For my part, I have heard what the House of Commons said about the Northern Ireland backstop and, when I go to the European Council tomorrow, I will be seeking legal and political assurances that will assuage the concerns that members of Parliament have on that issue.”
The hardline Brexit supporters who triggered the vote because they saw her deal as a betrayal of the 2016 referendum said she should now quit.
“It is a terrible result for the prime minister,” Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of a hard Brexit faction in the party, told BBC Television. “The Prime Minister must realise that, under all constitutional norms, she ought to go and see the queen urgently and resign.”
But May loyalist Chris Grayling, her Transport Minister, said the party had endorsed her “comfortably”.
Backbenchers have warned Mrs May that she shouldn’t conflate support for her leadership with any form of support for her imperilled Brexit deal. Mrs May may have thought that she has saved herself by deferring on Monday a parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal and winning today’s leadership vote but her Brexit headaches have not gone away.
Yet now that she has won, and no further challenge can be mounted for at least 12 months under party rules, this victory will strengthen her position.
Before the vote the Chancellor Philip Hammond said: “This vote will flush out extremists to advance a particular agenda that is not in the interests of leaving the EU without a deal which is bad for Britain’’.
Mrs May’s impassioned and teary plea to a packed 1922 Committee room in Westminster an hour before the ballot this morning, is believed to have swung scores of votes at the last minute to save her leadership.
She said she recognised the feeling of the party and told MPs she had the “intention’’ of standing down before the next scheduled election in 2022.
Health Minister Matt Hancock said of that moment: ‘’She said in her head she’d love to fight the next election but she knows she can’t, she was quite emotional about that. What is important is the national interest and to get the best Brexit deal.’’
Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg was sceptical about Mrs May’s claims, tweeting: “’The word intention is such a politician’s word,’’ and she had made no definite plans to stand aside. In the meeting she was asked when she might step down but she reportedly ducked the question.
She was also criticised to her face, with one MP telling her: “You have the stamina, but you don’t have the strategy’’.
Margot James was the first Tory politician to cast her vote and said afterwards: “I feel she will have won over waiverers with her performance. People have no doubt she has done her best. I said David Cameron has got us into this impasse, and the PM has done her best to make it work.”
Mrs May and the 1922 Committee which oversees the ballot had allowed two suspended members who are supportive of Mrs May to cast their ballots. Andrew Griffiths has been suspended for sending sexual messages to two younger women and Charlie Elphicke has been suspended over alleged sexual offences, which he denies.
Mrs May had also told the meeting of MPs that she was working to try and extract changes to the Brexit deal with the European Union that would make it acceptable to the DUP party, which is essential to get sufficient numbers to get her deal through parliament.
But European leaders have been adamant that there will be no revision of the Brexit deal.
Earlier this morning the European Council president Donald Tusk sent a letter to council members saying they will listen to Mrs May and then adopt relevant conclusions.
May fights biggest test of career
Mrs May was fighting the biggest test of her political career with a vote of no confidence by Tory backbenchers this morning, and she earlier tried to win over wavering politicians by promising them that she would not contest the next general election.
Which MPs are for or against the PM?
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 12, 2018
As Theresa May faces a vote of no confidence MPs flock to express their views on the PM keeping or leaving her roll as leader.
For all the latest on the no confidence vote, head here: https://t.co/rkYGeFiOuq pic.twitter.com/qTm3sfOkss
Yet despite the parliamentary turmoil and Brexit chaos she was tipped from the start to win by a small to medium sized margin.
Mrs May has to secure half of the 317 votes to stay on as prime minister and leader of the Conservative party, and already 177 MP’s, including the entire Cabinet, have publicly backed her.
John Ruddick: It's a done deal. @BorisJohnson will be the next UK Prime Minister and will make Britain great again and will save the situation. European negotiators are scared.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) December 12, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/xcVVBqxOJj #Outsiders pic.twitter.com/2A6Xm3gmyV
But given that the vote is secret, there may be many parliamentarians wanting to be seen to show support for her, and prop up their various political appointments, yet vote against her on the ballot paper.
As one MP told Sky News UK: “Many of my political colleagues are liars.”
‘SHE’S LISTENED AND HEARD’: what Tory MPs say about May
Mrs May gave a final speech to her party this morning, before the vote began at 5am AEDT.
Voting will complete by 7am (AEDT) with the results known around an hour later.
Mrs May has stressed that the party risks further division, a delay to Brexit and a possible no Brexit if she is not leader. She left some ministers in tears as she told the room that she won’t stand at the next election, in a move to try and placate her most strident critics. However she didn’t name a date when she would step down.
Vote of no confidence in Theresa May is "unhelpful, irrelevant and irresponsible" says Conservative Ken Clarke, to loud cheers in the Chamber
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 12, 2018
Follow #PMQs live: https://t.co/q4MyNVupoZ pic.twitter.com/sp73WVQqYo
Conservative party executive members say the result of the ballot will be made known at 8am.
If Mrs May wins the ballot, there will be intense interest in the size of the victory. If 100 or more MPs are expressing no confidence, it’s a damning indictment on the fissures in the party and will highlight the ongoing difficulties for Mrs May to try and get her Brexit deal through the parliament.
A ballot win means she cannot be challenged for a further 12 months, while a loss means there will be a leadership contest, of which a handful of Tories are expected to stand. Boris Johnson, David Davis, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt are names already being suggested if the result swings against Mrs May.
If she wins, Mrs May has vowed to plough ahead with her deal, albeit with “assurances’’ from Europe, but if the Irish backstop is still part of the deal it won’t gain parliamentary support.
The DUP, which gives the government support with supply and confidence, has been firm in its rejection of anything that divides Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds clearly repeated his party’s position as late as yesterday: “We have been very clear setting out our red line, we must leave the EU as one UK, there can’t be division as far as customs and regulatory power’’.
So what is Mrs May, if she is still prime minister, to do? In the hours before the confidence vote MPs were lobbying her to change direction, insist that Europe drops the backstop and failing that, given the current inability for a consensus position in parliament, to call for a second referendum. Backbenchers have warned she shouldn’t conflate support for her leadership for support for her deal.
Supporters of Mrs May however believe a victory for her will strengthen her position.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said: ‘’this vote will flush out extremists to advance a particular agenda that is not in the interests of leaving the EU without a deal which is bad for Britain’’.
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