Latest: May vows to ‘get on with the job’ after seeing off bid to oust her as PM

Theresa May has seen off an attempt by rebel backbenchers to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

Latest: May vows to ‘get on with the job’ after seeing off bid to oust her as PM

Latest: Theresa May has urged her party to “come together” after seeing off an attempt by rebel backbenchers to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

The British Prime Minister won a confidence vote of the 317 Conservative MPs by a margin of 200 to 117 in a secret ballot at Westminster.

But she sowed the seeds for her eventual departure by telling Tory MPs that she would not lead the party into the next general election, expected in 2022.

And she immediately faced calls to resign from Brexit-backing MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said that she had lost the confidence of more than one-third of her MPs and a majority of backbenchers.

Speaking in Downing Street moments after the result was announced, Mrs May acknowledged that a “significant” number of her MPs had voted against her and said: “I have listened to what they said.”

Sir Graham Brady announced the result of the confidence vote (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Sir Graham Brady announced the result of the confidence vote (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

And she said she and her administration had a “renewed mission”, saying: “Following this ballot, we now need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit for the British people and building a better future for this country.”

She said this must involve “politicians of all sides coming together and acting in the national interest”.

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mrs May should resign (David Mirzoeff/PA)
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mrs May should resign (David Mirzoeff/PA)

With the “payroll vote” of ministers, parliamentary aides and trade envoys all likely to have backed Mrs May, a majority of the remaining 160-170 backbenchers voted no confidence in her, he said.

“Of course I accept this result, but the Prime Minister must realise that under all constitutional norms, she ought to go to see the Queen urgently and resign.”

200 to 117: Theresa May survives leadership challenge to remain Prime Minister

Earlier: Theresa May has seen off an attempt by rebel backbenchers to oust her as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

But she sowed the seeds for her eventual departure by telling Tory MPs that she would not lead the party into the next general election, expected in 2022

The Prime Minister won a confidence vote of the 317 Conservative MPs by a margin of 200 to 117 in a secret ballot at Westminster.

The vote was triggered by party grandee Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, early on Wednesday after he received letters of no confidence in the PM from at least 15% of the parliamentary party.

In a day of high drama, a defiant Mrs May vowed to fight “with everything I’ve got” to defend her position, warning that a change in prime minister might mean Brexit being delayed or halted.

In an early-morning statement outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said that securing a Brexit deal which will deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum was “now within our grasp” and said she was “making progress” in securing reassurances from EU leaders on MPs’ concerns about the proposed backstop for the Irish border.

Every MP in her Cabinet swiftly issued statements of support and she was greeted by loud cheers from the Tory backbenches when she faced the House of Commons for her weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions.

Addressing assembled MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee moments before the crucial vote, Mrs May said that she accepted she could not fight the next election as their leader.

Solicitor general Robert Buckland told reporters: “She said ‘In my heart I would like to lead the party into the next election’ and then that was the introductory phrase to her indication that she would accept the fact that that would not happen, that is not her intention.”

Conservative MPs listen to Theresa May at a meeting of the 1922 Committee immediately before the crucial vote (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Conservative MPs listen to Theresa May at a meeting of the 1922 Committee immediately before the crucial vote (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The scale of this task was highlighted by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who insisted in a phone call as MPs voted that the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement “cannot be reopened or contradicted”.

And DUP leader Arlene Foster, who met Mrs May shortly before the ballot, insisted that “tinkering around the edges” of the agreement would not be enough to win her party’s support for the deal.

Mrs Foster, whose 10 MPs prop up the minority Conservative administration, said she told the PM that “we were not seeking assurances or promises, we wanted fundamental legal text changes”.

Anger over the backstop among Tory backbenchers and their Democratic Unionist Party allies was the main obstacle to Mrs May getting her Brexit deal through the House of Commons earlier this week.

Her decision to defer the vote sparked a new wave of letters of no confidence which pushed the total beyond the threshold of 48 needed to trigger a ballot.

By the time of the vote, Mrs May’s survival looked assured, with the tally of Tory MPs publicly declaring they would support her passing the threshold of 159 needed to secure her position.

Mrs May’s victory in the confidence vote means that another challenge cannot be mounted against her position as Tory leader for a year.

But she still faces the danger of a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons, which could bring her Government down if backed by more than half of all MPs.

And Labour MPs branded her a “lame duck” PM because of her decision to pre-announce her departure.- Press Association

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