Theresa May faces leadership battle this week

Theresa May faces a leadership battle with the 48 letters from MPs that would trigger a contest likely to be submitted this week.

Pro-Brexit protesters in Lonfon. Pivyutr: AFP.

Theresa May is facing the prospect of a leadership battle with the 48 letters from MPs that would trigger a contest likely to be submitted this week, The Times has been told.

Tory challengers broke cover to set out their leadership pitches yesterday before the most difficult week of Mrs May’s troubled premiership.

Boris Johnson tried to put himself at the head of a jockeying pack by outlining plans for another negotiation with Brussels. Other former ministers refused to rule themselves out of a contest.

Some cabinet ministers were clinging to a fast-fading hope that the prime minster will postpone tomorrow’s so-called meaningful vote on her Brexit deal as whips calculated that she was heading for a three-figure defeat.

However, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, said that the Commons vote was “100 per cent happening” and that Mrs May would continue in office even after a heavy defeat.

Brexiteer fears that Mrs May could not then prevent parliament from moving to a softer deal or a second referendum will drive a wave of letters of no confidence to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, according to a senior party figure.

“I would be astonished if we don’t get to 48 this week,” the former cabinet minister said. An attempted coup by Brexiteers last month stalled at 24 declared letters amid fears that Mrs May would win a confidence ballot and so be safe from challenge for a year.

Anger at Mrs May’s refusal to defer the vote, as well as a growing view that the Brexit debate is now between options that she had previously ruled out, has led some MPs to believe that she would not win the ballot, however.

The mounting pressure on the prime minster came as:

— Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, called Mrs May before what he said would be “an important week for the fate of Brexit”.

— Michael Gove, the environment secretary, promised legal guarantees and funding for the fishing industry to sell the deal to wavering Tories.

— Hilary Benn, the Labour MP, refused to pull the amendments he has tabled to Mrs May’s motion, which could mean that she avoids the humiliation of her deal being voted down directly.

Last week Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, used an interview with The Times to breach the taboo of discussing a “Plan B” and backed the so-called Norway-plus plan for a softer Brexit. Mr Johnson set out his alternative to the BBC yesterday (Sunday). He said that Britain should make credible threats to leave without a deal and withhold half the pounds 39 billion divorce payment until the EU agreed a free-trade deal that avoided a hard Irish border.

The former foreign secretary was among potential Brexiteer candidates on the fringes of the grassroots National Conservative Convention in Solihull at the weekend in what was interpreted as an early campaign event.

Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, are sounding out potential supporters with the former making clear that he could support a “managed” no-deal Brexit, an idea also backed by Andrea Leadsom, leader of the Commons.

A prominent Tory figure described Mrs May’s defiance of calls to defer the vote as ridiculous. It is understood that representatives of the Conservatives’ voluntary wing have been sounded out over how to truncate a leadership ballot of the party’s 124,000 members.

In a sign that No 10 had all but given up on winning over rebels there was no indication of any negotiations over possible amendments to mitigate the force of the backstop.

Instead, Mrs May could be calculating that the amendment by Mr Benn, chairman of the Brexit committee, will limit the scale of her defeat. His amendment rejects her deal, rejects the possibility of leaving the EU without a deal and guarantees parliament a proper say in what would happen next.

The amendments are voted on before the government motion and Mr Benn’s is considered among the most likely to pass, since it has the backing of opposition parties and could attract support among Tory Remainers.

That could allow her to return to Brussels for Thursday’s European Council meeting with a demand for more. In Mr Tusk’s call with her yesterday (Sunday) afternoon it is not thought that the pair held significant discussions.

A cabinet minister said: “It’s fair to say she is going to have to have another crack at it but she is going to have the vote anyway because the moment you cancel it is a moment of danger.”

The minister added that Brussels would be forced to think again after being surprised by the Westminster backlash, saying: “A deal isn’t a deal unless it can be ratified by both sides.”

The Times