Theresa May has survived an attempted party leadership coup after a series of top Tories gave her their support on Sunday.
In what Politico described as a “parade of big beasts”, Boris Johnson in The Sunday Telegraph, Liam Fox in the Sunday Express, John Major in the The Mail on Sunday and Iain Duncan Smith all endorsed May’s premiership.
Last week’s disastrous conference speech, during which May struggled with a cough and suffered the indignity of an interruption by a comedian, prompted former Tory party chairman Grant Shapps and about 30 other MPs to call for her to go.
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While this was less than the 48 needed to trigger a leadership contest, as was reported in The Week on Friday, the plotters had hoped to circumvent the powerful backbench 1922 Committee and appeal directly to the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for her departure. However, it appears they did not receive the support they had expected, with members of the cabinet staying in line behind May.
Writing in the The Sun on Sunday, David Cameron’s former director of communications Craig Oliver said the prevailing wisdom in the party is that any leadership contest now, with Brexit unresolved and Labour buoyant, “would result in bloodshed and highlight division”.
The Guardian has reported that “in a signal of strength after Downing Street successfully deflected the coup”, May is preparing to demote Boris Johnson in a cabinet reshuffle.
According to The Sunday Times, this will come after the European Council summit from 19-20 October and could bring fresh blood into the Cabinet. Senior Tory MPs told The Observer that May should axe the old guard and appoint a new generation of rising stars to secure a legacy of “restarting the party”.
Lord Heseltine, deputy prime minister to John Major, said: “We have a relatively short window until the next election – I think two years.
“The idea that Mrs May can lead us through Brexit and have a new leader in time for the next election is fanciful. She should create the opportunity for the party to choose not just a different singer, but a different song.”
Yet while this approach has strong support from within the party, “a major reshuffle is risky, with some fearing those sacked will help agitate for May’s early removal”, says The Observer.
The Prime Minister has rejected repeated calls to sack Johnson, most recently over his interventions on Brexit in the run-up to conference and comments he made about dead bodies in Libya. She is said to believe it is better to have the unpredictable, yet still relatively popular, former London mayor inside the tent where he is constrained by collective cabinet responsibility rather than as a loose cannon agitating for new leadership from outside.
With a new Opinium poll showing the Conservatives are now seen as more divided that Labour for the first time since Jeremy Corbyn became leader two years ago, any reshuffle of the Prime Minister’s team is likely to turn into a proxy battle, especially on the divisive subject of Brexit.
In a sign of the angst within the party between Leavers and Remainers, ardent Leave supporter Tory MP Nadine Doris told ITV’s Peston on Sunday that it was wrong all the focus had been on Johnson, and it was actually Chancellor Philip Hammond who should be sacked for pushing for a soft Brexit and longer transition deal.
This was shot down by the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, touted as a potential future leader herself, who told Peston it was the Chancellor’s job to set out how different Brexit outcomes would affect the British economy.
The fifth and final round of Brexit negotiations before the crucial European Council summit starts in Brussels this morning, with expectations low a breakthrough can be made in time for EU leaders to agree to allow talks to move on to a new EU-UK trade deal.
In a sign May is beginning to seriously consider the possibility of crashing out without a new agreement in place, the Sunday Telegraph claimed the government is drawing up plans to “unlock” billions of pounds in the new year to prepare for a “no deal” Brexit, if talks make no progress.
Speaking to the BBC, Brexit minister Dominic Raab said preparations for a no deal were “well under way”, adding that while the UK had to “strive for the very best outcome” from Brexit negotiations, it must also “prepare for all eventualities”.
