Britain’s political crisis continued on Friday as Prime Minister Theresa May maintained her determination to push forward with the withdrawal agreement negotiated with the European Union (EU), even as a growing number of Conservative MPs submitted letters of no confidence in the hope of triggering a leadership contest.
While 20 MPs have publicly submitted such letters to the Conservative Party’s 1922 backbench committee (to which at least 48 must submit letters to trigger a vote), Ms. May gained a significant boost as Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and Liam Fox, the Trade Secretary, indicated their support for her and their intention to remain within the government. In addition, Amber Rudd, who resigned as Home Secretary over incorrect testimony she had provided to Parliament during the Windrush scandal earlier this year, re-joined the Cabinet as Work and Pensions Minister. An official inquiry had found that she had not been adequately supported by officials during the hearing. Ms. Rudd has been a supporter of the Prime Minister and emphatically voiced her support for the deal earlier this week.
Getting ‘the right deal’
However, Ms. May is far from out of the woods: Mr. Gove indicated that he wanted to focus on getting “the right deal in the future” and declined journalists’ questions on whether he supported the existing deal, suggesting that he and others may be staying on within the government to seek changes.
This could present major challenges, as Europe has treated the agreed text as the final one on the table.
“We now have a document on the table. The U.K. and EU 27 have agreed to this,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, as reported by Germany’s Deutsche Welle .
Beyond seeking support of her parliamentarians, Ms. May launched a drive to garner public support too, first addressing a press conference on Thursday, and later conducting a phone-in on LBC Radio on Friday morning in which she took calls from members of the public to defend her deal.
Ms. May has repeatedly insisted that leadership is about taking tough decisions and that her deal is the best one. However, public opinion remains very divided: a poll by Sky News on Thursday found that just one in seven believe that the deal is better than either crashing out without a deal or staying in the EU; while 54% prefer to remain in the EU; and 55% favour a second referendum.
Uncertainty writ large
The road ahead remains very uncertain. Triggering a vote of confidence is a risky strategy for the Conservatives as, if it fails, they will not be able to trigger another one for at least another year, giving Ms. May the political space to push forward with her deal. If a vote is triggered and Ms. May loses, it is far from clear who within the party would command sufficient support to take Britain forward in negotiations.
However, even if Ms. May does win and takes her deal forward, it looks almost certain to be defeated in Parliament, if current indications are anything to go by, with many Conservative MPs joining Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party in voting against it. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party has also indicated that it would vote against it.
Meanwhile, Stephen Barclay, a little-known Minister and a firm supporter of the Brexit campaign, was promoted to the role of Brexit Secretary to replace Dominic Raab, who stepped down on Thursday.
