Theresa May is to face a vote of no confidence after her leadership has been contested.
This comes after 50 anonymous letters were submitted to the 1922 committee calling for the contest.
However, the Prime Minister remains resolute. Speaking to press outside number 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said: “I will contest that vote with everything I have got.”
The vote amongst Conservative MPs is expected to go ahead between 18:00 to 20:00 GMT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLMAAO7MrTE
The contest is the result of wide spread disagreement with May’s latest Brexit proposal, featuring the controversial Irish backstop.
While May remains a divisive figure, there are those within the party who remain staunchly in support of her. Simon Horare, MP for North Dorset is amongst them.
Speaking outside of the Houses of Parliament to Sky News, he said: “‘Oh good God no. The Prime Minister has my full support. I think that some of my colleagues have either… forgotten to take their meds in the last 24 hours, or have totally lost leave of all their senses. I just can’t understand what people are doing and why.”
While another Dorset MP, Tobias Ellwood, considered the whole situation a waste of time and urged for more support for May, saying on Twitter:
Back the PM.
This is a complete, self serving and disloyal distraction at a critical time for the Gov.
I came into politics to solve problems – not add to them. https://t.co/3fsgWyEvM3— Tobias Ellwood (@Tobias_Ellwood) December 12, 2018
Toby Johnson, a member of Dorset for Europe, sees the possibility of a people’s vote, “The whole situation has been handled quite badly by Theresa May. Should she lose the vote of no confidence, then we will be placed in a very difficult position…”
“I think that a people’s vote is the only democratic way to overturn what I think was a democratic way to leave the EU. It was a decision made by the people, but it was a decision made in the dark.”
Due to the leadership contest, May has been forced to cancel her proposed meeting with the Irish Premier Leo Varadkar in Dublin.
The meeting was part of May’s last-ditch attempt to amend her EU withdrawal agreement to help get it through parliament.
