Theresa May to face confidence vote

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party Wednesday, something she vowed to contest “with everything I’ve got.”

Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, confirmed he has received the 48 letters of no confidence — from 15 percent of current Conservative MPs — needed to trigger the ballot. Only Tory MPs will vote.

The challenge is to May’s leadership of her party and if she lost it would not automatically trigger an election, though if she is replaced as Tory leader her successor would take over as prime minister.

The news came after May delayed a House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal, which had been due to take place Tuesday night. Instead, she spent Tuesday touring European capitals in a bid to secure assurances over the controversial Northern Irish backstop from other EU27 leaders in the hope of winning over more Tory MPs, many of whom have said they opposed the divorce deal the prime minister negotiated with Brussels.

Speaking outside No.10 Downing Street, May warned a change of leadership now would “create uncertainty when we can least afford it” and said any new prime minister would be forced to extend the Article 50 Brexit negotiating period or revoke it all together.

May will address the committee at 5 p.m. U.K. time Wednesday, after which a ballot will be held between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

A contest could not be completed before the January 21 deadline she has set for a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal, she said, warning that a leadership contest “risks handing control to opposition MPs in parliament.”

Arguing that a leadership change would not change the parliamentary arithmetic, she said the “only people” who would benefit were Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Notably, the prime minister gave no hint of being willing to stand down at a future date — something many Tory MPs want her to set a timetable for. Citing her 40-year record in the Conservative party, she appealed to colleagues to back her “in the national interest.”

“I stand ready to finish the job,” she said.

Brady told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that he spoke to May Tuesday evening and said the prime minister was “businesslike and keen to proceed as quickly as possible.”

“What we are talking about is a vote of confidence in the leader of the conservative party not in her as prime minister,” he said.

May will address the committee at 5 p.m. U.K. time Wednesday, after which a ballot will be held between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The result is expected by 9 p.m., according to Brady.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Euroskeptic group of backbench Conservatives, criticized May’s decision to delay the vote on her Brexit deal. “What has two years of Theresa May doing Brexit amounted to? An undeliverable deal parliament would roundly reject, if the prime minister has the gumption to allow it to go before the House of Commons,” he said.

“This is not governing, it risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into government by failing to deliver Brexit. We cannot continue like this. The prime minister must either govern or quit.”

Senior Cabinet ministers, however, including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, publicly supported the U.K. prime minister Wednesday morning.

Hunt tweeted the last thing the country needed was a “damaging and long” leadership contest. “Brexit was never going to be easy but [May] is the best person to make sure we actually leave the EU on March 29.”

Gove, who ran for the Tory party leadership in 2016, tweeted: “I am backing the prime minister 100 percent — and I urge every Conservative MP to do the same. She is battling hard for our country and no one is better placed to ensure we deliver on the British people’s decision to leave the EU.”

Javid echoed his Cabinet colleagues: “The last thing our country needs right now is a Conservative Party leadership election. Will be seen as self-indulgent and wrong. PM has my full support and is best person to ensure we leave EU on 29 March.”

Justice Secretary David Gauke told the BBC the period of uncertainty while the leadership question is resolved would be destabilizing and would make it harder to make progress on a deal with the European Union. “I think it is inevitable that were she to lose the vote tonight there would need to be a delay in Article 50, I don’t think we would be leaving the European Union on the 29th of March.”

Under Conservative Party rules, May will only have to win the confidence vote by a simple majority to remain as leader, and if she did so she could not be challenged again for a year.

However, if she is defeated as leader of the party, she will be unable to stand again. MPs would choose two candidates to replace her and it would then go to a ballot of party members.

source: politico.eu

أعلنت وكالة رويترز، الأربعاء، أن نوابا من حزب المحافظين الذي تنتمي له رئيسة الوزراء البريطانية تيريزا ماي سيعملون على اقتراع لسحب الثقة منها.

وأوضحت أن الاقتراع سيتم في الساعة الـ18:00 بالتوقيت المحلي) اليوم الأربعاء، وأنه سيجري إعلان النتيجة بأسرع ما يمكن في المساء.

يشار إلى أن تصويت مجلس العموم البريطاني، تأجل الثلاثاء، على مشروع قرار قدمته ماي للخروج من بريكست ووافق عليه الاتحاد الأوروبي، وبدت رئيسة الحكومة متخبطة في قرارها بشأن العمل على مشروع قرار جديد إلا أنها فشلت في ذلك بعد لقاءات عدة مع مسؤولين أوروبيين.

وجعل الأمر مصير حكومتها على المحك، في حين تصر ماي على أن اتفاقها للخروج من الاتحاد الأوروبي هو السبيل الوحيد المتاح، وأن البدائل تتمثل في خروج مؤلم دون اتفاق أو ربما عدم الخروج على الإطلاق.