Brexit

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Victory? No, yesterday’s result weakens May’s authority still further

Theresa May has survived the vote, but her authority is weakened still further. More than a third of Tory MPs have voted against her and this is after she pledged not to fight the next election and to get legally enforceable changes to the backstop. If May had kept the number of those voting against her below 100, it would have been a good result for her. If she had kept it to below 80, it would have strengthened her position considerably. But anything over 105 was always going to be tricky for her as that meant a 1/3rd of her MPs didn’t have confidence in her. This became truer

Steerpike

Watch: Anna Soubry rows with fellow Tory MP

Theresa May has survived a vote of confidence but the Tory party is not a happy place. Anna Soubry and Robert Buckland have just had a very public row on Sky News. It’s safe to say the two Tory MPs did not see eye-to-eye about what should happen next. Buckland told Soubry that it was ‘time to move on’. But Soubry said the PM was just offering more of the same ’empty rhetoric’: Soubry: ‘Let me finish please’ Buckland: ‘This is time for compromise not for people taking artificial lines and looking for nirvana’ Soubry later appeared to mutter that her colleague’s words were ‘absolute rubbish’. Oh dear..

Isabel Hardman

After a day of high drama, nothing has changed

Even before the result of the Tory no confidence vote was announced, the mood in Committee Room 14 was rather jovial. Chief Whip Julian Smith appeared minutes before the result, looking both exhausted and happy. Nerves were sufficiently calm for someone to crack a joke in the pause between Sir Graham Brady arriving and him starting to speak. ‘Let us pray!’ they quipped, sending the room into fits of giggles. In fact, the mood was almost eerily cheery, a bit like someone who has spent all night awake drinking coffee. When Brady announced that the Conservative party does indeed have confidence in Theresa May, the Tory MPs present broke into

Steerpike

Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg calls on Theresa May to go

Theresa May has survived the vote of confidence in her leadership, but Jacob Rees-Mogg has insisted the Prime Minister should still quit. The Tory Brexiteer said that the result was ‘terrible’ for the PM, pointing out that many of those who backed her were ‘on the payroll’: ‘The PM must realise under most constitutional norms she ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign’ May has won a battle, but her critics are determined not to back down just yet…

Brendan O’Neill

Why Theresa May must go

Theresa May has got to go. She has got to go because she has failed British democracy, failed the British people, and reneged on the Conservative Party’s own manifesto promise to leave both the Customs Union and the Single Market. She has got to go because 17.4m Britons, the largest democratic bloc in British history, voted to ‘Take back control’ and she responded by ceding even more control to Brussels. She has got to go because the British people clearly want someone to stand up to Brussels, yet she bows and scrapes before Brussels, capitulating to its every undemocratic demand and conspiring in its stitch-up of Brexit. Yet the expectation

Charles Moore

Four points for Tory MPs to consider before voting tonight

If I were a Tory MP, I would be worried by the timing of this vote, but, given that it is happening, I would think the following: 1. She’s trying to bounce me by making me vote tonight. 2. This is the last chance for a year, because Theresa May is rule-bound and not one to take hints. 3. I do not, in fact, have confidence in her, and so, since I’m being asked, I should say so. 4. Although I do think she is sincere in wishing to deliver what people voted for, we have learnt that she doesn’t know how to do this. We urgently need a Prime Minister who does. I am

Ross Clark

Is business really that bothered by the prospect of May’s departure?

The world of business is, apparently, appalled by the actions of the 48 or more Conservative MPs who have triggered a vote of no confidence in Theresa May as Conservative leader. According to the Institute of Directors, its members are ‘tearing their hair out’ over today’s news. The message seems to be that a change of Prime Minister is an unwanted distraction when the country is already in a state of crisis. Yet markets seem to disagree. The FTSE this morning is up by more than one per cent. However negatively bosses might see the potential end of Theresa May as Prime Minister, investors in their companies seem to be

Alex Massie

Ditching Theresa May achieves nothing

Theresa May has failed. That is no longer in doubt. Nor is there any prospect of resurrection. Her credibility within the Conservative party, the House of Commons, and the country at large is shot. The only thing propping up her Government is the fear that allowing it to collapse completely would invite Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street. That, for the time being, is something even this deranged iteration of the Conservative party is not prepared to countenance. As a matter of party politics, May has been on some kind of unofficial probation ever since last year’s disastrous general election. In office, certainly, but only tolerated grudgingly. As far as the

Steerpike

Watch: Tory MPs refuse to talk on TV

It’s all out war in the Conservative party today, and as you would expect, things are already getting a little heated between Tory MPs. The rift between colleagues backing Theresa May and those calling for her to go was very apparent on BBC news this morning, where Brexiteer and letter submitter Andrew Bridgen was talking about the upcoming no confidence vote. At the end of his interview, he was then asked by Victoria Derbyshire if he was willing to stay on and chat with the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, James Cleverly – who is backing Theresa May, and who had just joined them: ‘I gather, that you don’t necessarily

Tom Goodenough

The full list of Tory MPs backing Theresa May

With just a few moments to go until voting closes, 181 Tory MPs have publicly backed Theresa May in the vote of confidence. Given that May needs 159 votes, their support should be enough to keep her position safe. But given that this is a secret ballot, are they as good as their word? Here is the full list of those who have vowed to back the PM: Bim Afolami: Adam Afriyie: Heidi Allen: Stuart Andrew Ed Argar Victoria Atkins Kemi Badenoch Steve Barclay: Harriett Baldwin: Henry Bellingham Richard Benyon Guto Bebb Paul Beresford Jake Berry Nick Boles: Peter Bottomley Andrew Bowie: Robert Buckland: Alistair Burt Karen Bradley Steve Brine: Jack Brereton

James Forsyth

To survive now, Theresa May could have to promise to resign later

The signatures are now in. Theresa May will have to ask whether her best chance of survival comes in promising to resign – but not just yet. She must now decide whether to set out a timetable for her departure ahead of this evening. If she wins the vote, she cannot be challenged for another year. There, though, are a decent number of Tories MPs who don’t want her gone now, but do want her to leave soon after March 29th. They would like a new PM in place for the 2nd round of the Brexit negotiations.   So what are they to do if tonight’s confidence vote? If May gives

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Mounting speculation that the 48 letters are in

The talk in Tory circles this evening is that the 48 letters are in. Two putative leadership campaigns are saying they are. But, perhaps more significantly, so is one close ally of the Prime Minister. There has, though, been no word from Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee. However, we wouldn’t expect him to say anything until he has spoken to Theresa May directly. If the letters are in, expect a quick vote. Tory MPs are on a three-line whip for Thursday and that would be the obvious time to have it. I think there is very little chance of Theresa May resigning before any vote. One long-time

John Major

John Major: we need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect

Whether a “Remainer” or a “Leaver”, no-one welcomes chaos. So it is time for everyone to reflect and consider. Time to turn to reality – not fiction. Reason – not ideology. We need to calm the markets. We need to protect the economic wellbeing of the British people. We need to protect our national interest. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that – to do so – we need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect. The clock must be stopped. It is clear we need the most precious commodity of all: time. Wherever one looks, a new world is forming: it is vigorous, and often contemptuous of

Isabel Hardman

Can May really win back MPs’ trust?

How can MPs trust what ministers say after the Brexit fiasco of the past few days? That’s been the theme of the Commons emergency debate on the meaningful vote so far, with phrases like ‘shredded her credibility’ being bandied about. Initially, the most stinging criticism came from opposition MPs, but those MPs are not the usual suspects who chant blandly about how you can ‘never trust the Tories’. They’re senior backbenchers like Hilary Benn and Angela Eagle. And they speak for a large number of Tory MPs, too, who feel that there is little reason to trust what a minister or indeed a whip tells them. Those Tory MPs range

Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May gets locked inside her car

Poor old Theresa May. The PM is hopping across Europe in a desperate bid to try and salvage her Brexit deal. But quite predictably things aren’t going well. After arriving in Berlin to meet Angela Merkel, Theresa May got off to a bad start – by getting locked in her car. Mr S is pleased to report that it wasn’t long before the PM was freed, although he suspects that not all Tory MPs will be pleased about that….

Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow burns Philip Hammond

John Bercow gave Labour MPs a helping hand in the Commons yesterday by making his thoughts known on the Government’s decision to delay a vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. The Speaker said the hold-up was ‘deeply discourteous’. But it seems he hasn’t stopped his mission of making life tricky for the Tories. Philip Hammond urged John McDonnell to vote for the PM’s withdrawal arrangement because it was the best that was on offer. But unfortunately for the Chancellor his remark teed up Bercow to take a pop at him: ‘It’s quite difficult to vote for something if there isn’t a vote’ Mr S thinks that Bercow does have a

Alexander Downer

No deal need not be a disaster

Spare a thought for us foreigners. We’re desperately trying to understand the meaning of the Brexit arguments being thrown around in the House of Commons. We all have our own countries too, so we view those arguments through the lens of our homelands. So here are a few reflections on how we react.  Theresa May’s deal has the UK leaving the voting structures of the EU but remaining in the Customs Union until the EU gives the UK permission to leave. Australia and New Zealand have a free trade agreement and co-ordinate their regulatory regimes through a joint council. But they certainly don’t have a customs union otherwise neither country would

Ross Clark

May’s delay has made a leadership challenge more likely

How painfully clear it is what happens next. Theresa May returns from her European travels with some kind of non legally-binding piece of paper saying that the EU would rather not enact the backstop if it can possibly avoid it, and, some time in January we finally have the crushing Commons defeat that we should have had today. Unless, that is, Conservative MPs finally overcome their chronic writers’ block and get their 48 letters to Graham Brady. It has become a received wisdom that May has somehow bought herself time by delaying the vote on the withdrawal bill – that she has stayed the executioner’s axe. Yet the opposite is

James Forsyth

It’s time to send Geoffrey Cox – not Olly Robbins – to Brussels

Theresa May is on a tour of European capitals today, while Olly Robbins was spotted back in Brussels yesterday. But it isn’t Robbins who May should have sent to Brussels but Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general. May’s problem right now isn’t technical but parliamentary, how to get the withdrawal deal through the Commons. It isn’t reasonable, or even fair, to expect a civil servant—which is what Robbins is—to have a finger-tip feel for what language or phrase might reassure Tory MPs. Cox, having held dozens of meetings with Ministers and MPs to discuss their concerns about the backstop, is far better placed to do that. Sending a Brexiteer minister to

James Kirkup

The lies and liars of Brexit

I started my first job at Westminster in 1994, more than half a lifetime ago. Almost all of my career has been spent watching politicians, talking to politicians, writing about politicians. I covered the case for war in Iraq and the war’s dismal descent into failure. I was part of the Telegraph team writing about MPs expenses. I’ve written about more ministerial resignations, scandals, failures of public policy and abdications of leadership than I can remember. None of those failures has ever left me quite as bewildered and despairing as I am today, pondering the latest act in the national farce that is Brexit. Bewildered, despairing and surprisingly angry.  Surprisingly because