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Double blow for Boris Johnson as Tories plunge to two by-election defeats

Sky News Australia — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 06:23:04 +0000

Boris Johnson has suffered a double blow as the Tories crashed to two by-election defeats in his first test at the ballot box since a bruising no-confidence vote.

The Conservatives saw a majority of 24,000, or 40.6%, in the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton evaporate – a record reverse for the party – as the Liberal Democrats triumphed.

In Wakefield, the Red Wall constituency in West Yorkshire snatched by the Conservatives in 2019, it was Labour that took victory.

Politics Hub: Reaction to Boris Johnson’s humiliating double by-election blow

It was the second electoral mauling for the PM this year after the Tories lost nearly 500 council seats at the start of last month.

Mr. Johnson has been under pressure over the partygate scandal as well as the cost of living crisis squeezing British household budgets.

That pressure intensified when a no-confidence vote saw 148 Conservative MPs oppose him.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Wakefield has shown the country has lost confidence in the Tories.

“This result is a clear judgement on a Conservative Party that has run out of energy and ideas.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “The Liberal Democrats have made political history with this stunning win.

“This should be a wake-up call for all those Conservative MPs propping up Boris Johnson. They cannot afford to ignore this result.

“The public is sick of Boris Johnson’s lies and law-breaking and it’s time for Conservative MPs to finally do the right thing and sack him.”

Mr. Johnson, who is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Rwanda, said ahead of the by-elections that he would be “watching the results with interest” while adding that “by-elections in mid-term are never necessarily easy for any government”.

He suggested it would be “crazy” for him to quit if she lost the two seats.

The by-elections, both in leave-voting constituencies, took place on the sixth anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

They were each triggered by the resignations of Conservative MPs: in Tiverton and Honiton, Neil Parish quit after he admitted to watching pornography on his mobile phone in the Commons chamber; in Wakefield, Imran Ahmad Khan stepped down after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

It became apparent soon after polls closed that it would be a bad night for the Tories.

Luke Hall, the party’s deputy chair, told Sky News it had been a “challenging campaign” and pointed to the impact of divisions laid bare by the confidence vote.

“I certainly would accept that disunity in political parties means parties do not win elections,” he said.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/double-blow-for-boris-johnson-as-tories-plunge-to-two-by-election-defeats-12639472

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The post Double blow for Boris Johnson as Tories plunge to two by-election defeats first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Brexit: Boris Johnson defeated as MPs take control

BBC — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 06:22:42 +0000

Tory rebels and opposition MPs have defeated the government in the first stage of their attempt to pass a law designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

The Commons voted 328 to 301 to take control of the agenda, meaning they can bring forward a bill seeking to delay the UK’s exit date.

In response, Boris Johnson said he would bring forward a motion for an early general election.

Jeremy Corbyn said the bill should be passed before an election was held.

In total, 21 Tory MPs, including a number of ex-cabinet ministers, joined opposition parties to defeat the government.

After the vote, Downing Street said those Tory MPs who rebelled would have the whip removed, effectively expelling them from the parliamentary party.

No 10 had hoped the threat of expulsion – and an election – would bring would-be rebels into line.

The longest-serving of the Tory rebels, ex-chancellor Ken Clarke, told BBC Newsnight he was still “a mainstream Conservative” but he didn’t recognize his party anymore.

The “knockabout character” of the prime minister had “the most right-wing cabinet a Conservative government has ever produced”, he said.

The prime minister said the MPs’ bill would “hand control” of Brexit negotiations to the EU and bring “more dither, more delay, more confusion”.

He told MPs he had no choice but to press ahead with efforts to call an October election, adding: “The people of this country will have to choose.”

The result means the MPs will be able to take control of Commons business on Wednesday.

That will give them the chance to introduce a cross-party bill which would force the prime minister to ask for Brexit to be delayed until 31 January, unless MPs approve a new deal, or vote in favour of a no-deal exit, by 19 October.

The BBC understands the government intends to hold an election on 15 October, two days before a crucial EU summit in Brussels.

To call an election under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Mr. Johnson would need support from Labour as he requires the backing of two-thirds of the UK’s 650 MPs.

But Mr. Corbyn said the legislation backed by opposition MPs and Tory rebels should pass before any election was held, to “take no-deal off the table”.

He added: “There is no majority to leave without a deal within the country”.

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said he did not trust Boris Johnson not to call an election for mid-October and then change the date afterward.

He said the prime minister could “change the date so that during the general election campaign we crash out of the European Union with a no-deal”.

“We want it bolting down that a no-deal Brexit can’t occur, and once that’s done, we want a general election as soon as possible,” he told the BBC.

The BBC’s chief political correspondent, Vicki Young, said the government was framing the situation as the Labour leader trying to block Brexit, and that would be its argument going into a general election.

Could the Commons defeat be a benefit to PM?

It’s hard to know where to start sometimes.

The pace and gravity of events in Westminster this week is both monumental and dizzying.

A prime minister has lost his wafer of a majority.

But some close to the prime minister believe that from this crisis comes an opportunity – to close the unfinished business of the referendum result in 2016, with the Tory party, at last, being the bearers of a crystal-clear message on Brexit.

It’s a measure of how upside-down the political norms are – that the prime minister losing his first vote in office is considered by some of his allies as a benefit.

Boris Johnson expected to be announced as Britain’s new Prime Minister today

Joe Roberts — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:42:09 +0000

Boris Johnson is the frontrunner to be the next Prime Minister (Picture: George Cracknell Wright/LNP)

Britain is about to learn who its next prime minister will be later this morning.

The winner of the Tory leadership contest is expected to be announced at 11.40am.

Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will take over as prime minister tomorrow after Theresa May’s final PMQs in the House of Commons.

Mrs. May will then head to Buckingham Palace to formally resign and recommend Johnson as her successor.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is running against Johnson in the race to Downing St (Picture: Getty)

The outgoing prime minister sparked a Tory leadership election in May when she emotionally announced her resignation outside 10 Downing Street, saying it had been ‘the honour of my life’ to ‘serve the country that I love.’

No less than 13 Tory MPs entered the race, with contenders such as Sajid Javid, Michael Gove and Rory Stewart knocked out during several rounds of votes by other Tory MPs.

Jeremy Corbyn called for a general election following Mrs. May’s resignation and will likely make a fresh demand for a public vote later today.

But so long as the next Tory leader has the support from most MPs, they do not have to hold a general election.

It’s not the first time a prime minister has been decided without a general election.

Labour did it in 2007 when Gordon Brown took over as prime minister from Tony Blair.

He waited three years until 2010 before holding an election.

Source: https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/23/boris-johnson-expected-announced-britains-new-prime-minister-today-10443106/

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UK PM Theresa May announces resignation amid fury over Brexit handling

Adam Shaw | Fox News — Fri, 24 May 2019 14:11:32 +0000

Theresa May announces resignation: What’s next for the UK and Brexit?

British Prime Minister Theresa May announces she is stepping down on June 7 amid anger over her handling of Brexit; Greg Palkot reports on who may step into the job and the future of Brexit.

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced Friday that she will resign — ending her months-long struggle to keep her job despite seething anger from her own Conservative Party over her handling of Brexit.

“I believe it was right to persevere even when the odds against success seemed high. But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort,” she said outside 10 Downing Street.

THERESA MAY’S DEPARTURE MARKS LAUNCH OF LEADERSHIP ELECTION; BORIS JOHNSON THE EARLY FAVORITE TO BECOME NEXT PM

Her voice breaking with emotion, she said she is leaving “with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.”

May spoke outside 10 Downing Street after a meeting with Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers. She said she will step down on June 7. Her resignation will trigger a party leadership contest, and whoever wins that contest will take over as prime minister.

I believe it was right to persevere even when the odds against success seemed high. But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort ~Theresa May

British Prime Minister Theresa May reacts as she turns away after making a speech in the street outside 10 Downing Street in London, England, Friday, May 24, 2019. Theresa May says she’ll quit as UK Conservative leader on June 7, sparking contest for Britain’s next prime minister. (AP)

THERESA MAY TO RESIGN AS BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: TIMELINE OF BREXIT AND EVENTS THAT LED TO HER DEMISE

May’s announcement came the morning after Brits went to the polls to vote in the European Parliament elections, with Britain only participating due to its departure from the E.U. being delayed until October. Full results are not expected for days but polls suggested her Conservative Party were expected to be punished severely for the government’s handling of Brexit, with polls suggesting the Tories could receive just single-digit support.

A YouGov poll for The Times of London published Wednesday found that the Tories would come in fifth place, with just 7% of the vote, while the newly-formed Brexit Party was predicted to cruise to victory with 37%.

May’s position, under siege for months, became untenable earlier this week after she announced a “new Brexit deal” on Tuesday. That new compromise included a number of fresh measures to try and bring MPs round to her enormously unpopular withdrawal agreement, which had been voted down three times by Parliament.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May walks back after addressing the media in Downing Street in London, Friday, May 24. May has announced that will step down as U.K. Conservative Party leader on June 7, sparking a contest to become Britain’s next prime minister. (AP)

“I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal, sadly I have not been able to do so,” she said Friday.

That agreement, negotiated with the E.U. last year, had been criticized by Brexiteers who claim it does not properly secure Britain’s exit from the bloc, and opposed by anti-Brexit lawmakers who are seeking a second referendum.

“The basic constitutional principle is that the prime minister has to command majority in the House of Commons, and it is quite clear the prime minister, Theresa May, does not command such a majority,” Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees Mogg told Sky News Friday.

In an attempt to bring anti-Brexit lawmakers on board, May announced Tuesday that she would include in her new bill a guarantee of a parliamentary vote for a second referendum, as well as a vote on keeping the U.K. in a temporary customs union until the next general election.

That last gasp effort to get her agreement the majority it needed to get over the line backfired spectacularly and appears to have hastened her already inevitable departure from 10 Downing Street.

The concessions infuriated pro-Brexit Tory MPs, with former Brexit minister David Jones telling The Daily Telegraph that “I have never seen such anger among colleagues.”

“She is desperate, she is deluded, she is doomed,” he said.

House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom resigned on Wednesday, the 36th minister to resign under May’s watch.

But May’s agreement was also brushed off by the opposition Labour Party, with leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissing it as a “rehash” of what has been previously discussed. Talks between Labour and Conservative Party lawmakers to break the Brexit impasse had broken down last week.

May had survived a vote of no-confidence by her own backbenchers in December, leaving her secure until December this year. However, British media reported that the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs were threatening to change the rules if she did not step down after Thursday’s elections.

May’s formal announcement of her plans to depart will add fuel to a leadership race already underway. Tom Tugendhat MP told Sky News Wednesday that “the shadow boxing campaign that is the leadership campaign already began a few weeks ago.”

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who resigned over May’s handling of Brexit, said last week that he intended to enter the leadership race whenever a vacancy arose. Other candidates could include Home Secretary Sajid Javid, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Andrea Leadsom — who was a candidate in the 2016 leadership race.

Her announcement could complicate the upcoming June 3 state visit by President Trump to London to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, where he will also meet with Queen Elizabeth II.

May will still be in office during that visit, meaning it will nix the chance for a new prime minister to forge ties with the American president at a time where such relations are vital. A U.S.-U.K. trade deal is a top priority for the U.K. as it looks to depart from the European Union and begin making its own trade agreements — and Trump has said “the potential is unlimited” for such a deal.

Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News.. He can be reached here.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-pm-theresa-may-announces-resignation-amid-fury-over-brexit-handling

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Prime Minister Theresa May ‘in tears’ as she’s forced to say when she’ll quit and Brexit talks collapse

Richard Hartley-Parkinson — Fri, 17 May 2019 12:43:06 +0000

Boris Johnson threw his hat into the ring yesterday, saying he would ‘go for it’ referring to the Tory party leadership

Theresa May was said to have had tears in her eyes as she was told MPs have run out of patience for her to announce her departure date.

The Prime Minister has been fighting to keep her Brexit deal alive and prolong her position, but her grip on power has weakened.

She has been told she must go by June 30 at the latest so that the Tories can hold a leadership election.

Campaigning for that job has effectively already begun with Boris Johnson announcing yesterday that he would ‘go for it’.

She met with senior members of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs in what has been described as an ’emotionally-charged’ meeting yesterday.

Mrs May’s chances of receiving Labour support for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) appear to be fading, with Jeremy Corbyn’s party frustrated at the lack of progress in cross-party talks and the prospect of a new prime minister tearing up any compromise.

Theresa May has been told that she must set out her departure timetable soon (Picture: PA)

She was involved in what has been described as an ’emotionally charged’ meeting yesterday (Picture: PA)

This morning Mr Corbyn told Mrs May that the cross-party Brexit talks have ‘gone as far as they can’ and ‘we have been unable to bridge important policy gaps between us’.

In a sign the negotiations are foundering, Mr Corbyn said he found it hard to deal with a Government in ‘disarray’ and warned ‘the time limit is very soon’.

But Number 10 insisted the talks process, which began in early April, remained alive.

There were meetings between officials on Thursday and the prospect of the talks collapsing was ‘not how I see it’, a senior source said.

Meanwhile, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has spoken of his regret at not speaking out during the campaign about Vote Leave’s campaign claim that the UK sends the EU £350 million a week.

In an interview with Austrian paper Der Standard, he said: ‘I think it is an incomprehensible error on my part that I did not intervene in the Brexit campaign owing to British wishes.

‘So many lies were told, so many of the consequences of a ‘no’ were misrepresented, we as a commission should have spoken up.’

Boris Johnson is the first person to say that he would go for the top job in the Tory party (Picture: PA)

The Prime Minister has been fighting to keep her Brexit deal alive and prolong her position, but her grip on power has weakened (Picture: Parliament TV)

The Prime Minister will meet the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady at the start of June to agree to the details of the leadership contest to succeed her.

The move follows a lengthy meeting on Thursday between Mrs May and the 18-strong 1922 executive during which she again came under pressure to name her exit date from Downing Street.

Even as the summit was taking place in Westminster, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson galvanized the race to succeed her, confirming he would be a candidate.

Mrs May and Sir Graham’s next meeting will come after the WAB has received a second reading vote in the Commons in the week beginning June 3.

Downing Street insiders indicated that if the Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle, Mrs May would seek to persuade the 1922 Committee to allow her to remain in office and secure Brexit, letting her leave having completed the main goal of her administration.

Number 10 insisted the Brexit talks process, which began in early April, remained alive (Picture: Reuters)

Mrs May wants the legislation to complete its progress by the time Parliament rises for its summer break, which is usually near the end of July.

‘If the WAB goes through, she could say ‘this is my path for getting the Bill through Parliament, obviously it is something that is important to the ’22 to see Brexit delivered, and I want to see that through’ and then she is out after phase one,’ a source said.

But if the WAB was defeated, she would face intense pressure to quit immediately.

The source said ‘she would have to say ‘this is how I envisage the timetable for a leadership election happening’ and there would have to be some sort of agreement about that’.

Sir Graham said the meeting with the Prime Minister on Thursday was a ‘very frank discussion’.

Mr Johnson will not be alone in seeking to replace the Prime Minister, with a crowded field of potential challengers already jostling for position.

International Development Secretary Rory Stewart wants the job and he has said ‘at least half-a-dozen’ Cabinet colleagues also have leadership ambitions.

Source: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/17/prime-minister-theresa-may-tears-forced-say-will-quit-9580917/

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Theresa May given 24-hour deadline to say when she will quit

Joe Murphy - Political Editor — Wed, 15 May 2019 13:42:41 +0000

EXCLUSIVE: Senior Tories warn PM to give clear timetable for handover date or risk being forced out by rebellion.

Theresa May leaves Parliament following talks with Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday night ( Aaron Chown/PA )

Theresa May was served a deadline of 24 hours by senior Tory MPs today to clarify when she will leave office, or risk being forced out by a rebellion of MPs and activists.

Members of the 1922 Committee executive, the party heavyweights who represent Tory backbenchers, said they were not satisfied with the Prime Minister’s latest attempt to delay her departure to late July so she can have another try at getting MPs to pass her thrice-rejected Brexit deal.

“We need a clear timetable from the Prime Minister as to what point she will be stepping down and we will elect a new leader,” said Bob Blackman, an executive member and MP for Harrow West.

Another executive member, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, told the Standard: “The problem of the hand-over date for the Prime Minister needs to be resolved sooner rather than later. Every week that uncertainty goes on is bad for the country and disastrous for the Conservative Party.

Campaign trail: Change UK’s Jessica Simor, MP Mike Gapes, Karen Newman, Annabel Mullin, Jan Vincent-Rostowski, Carol Tongue, Gavin Esler and Nora Mulready. Esler says his party are being targeted by the “Leave troll factory” (NIGEL HOWARD)

“She has had almost three years to negotiate this deal. Sadly, it is now time to hand over the reins to someone else with fresh ideas and the moral authority to lead the party.”

Sir Geoffrey added: “It would be infinitely preferable that the Prime Minister should set out this timetable herself rather than face the prospect of a vote of no confidence in her either by her parliamentary colleagues or by association chairs.”

The comments from the MPs make clear that Tories are not satisfied with the package Mrs May took to the Cabinet yesterday, which gave a strong signal that she intends to resign by the end of July if her deal is passed.

Privately, Tories are demanding a fixed timetable, including a pledge to go if her deal is shot down again, and an early start to a leadership contest so her successor has time for a Cabinet reshuffle and to prepare new policies for conference speeches.

MPs think a critical week will see the introduction of the delayed Withdrawal Agreement Bill on June 4, a vote on the Bill on June 5, and the Peterborough by-election on June 6. On June 12, it will be six months since the December vote of confidence which Mrs May won, and the 1922 Committee could vote on whether to change the rules to allow another. At the last such vote, it was defeated by a margin of two but at least one member has changed their mind. On June 15, members of the National Conservative Convention, which represents local party officials, will vote in an emergency meeting on whether to change the rules.

Nigel Evans, another executive member of the “22”, wrote on ConHome that Mrs May must show leadership and say when she is going: “My message to Theresa May is straightforward: the existential threat to my party is so real that every day of continued dithering and delay means that the bad place we are in becomes worse, and her successor will be handed a mission impossible of a job.”

Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn held fresh talks last night, fuelling speculation the Bill could be a vehicle for cross-party co-operation, or even a deal. But the DUP’s Nigel Dodds predicted it was “highly likely” that it would be defeated a fourth time and Labour sources said they had not agreed any deal.

Former Brexit minister Steve Baker said: “Driving it through over the heads of the DUP appears to eradicate the Government’s majority. What is the Government thinking?”

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox served another warning today that Britain retaining a customs union with the EU would be a “major disincentive” to trade globally.

He said in a speech to the Institute for Government: “There would be a major disincentive for other countries to want to negotiate with us in a period where they didn’t know when the end of our customs union with the European Union would be and it’s likely, therefore, we would delay those discussions. That’s not something I want to see.”

Change team on poll war footing … but voters need convincing

Election Focus

In A north London gastro-pub, Britain’s newest political party is gathered over glasses of wine to discuss the European elections.

There’s “vegan fish and chips” on the menu of the Old Dairy in trendy Stroud Green. Around the room conversation is flowing as 20 or so volunteers and three election candidates talk enthusiastically. They are almost all disgruntled ex-Labour stalwarts looking for a new future that has Europe at its heart.

Welcome to Change UK, the party co-founded by Chuka Umunna which hopes the May 23 elections will provide a breakthrough moment. “The mainstream has become stranded in the wilderness,” said first-time MEP candidate Nora Mulready, who quit Labour after 20 years in January last year.

Carole Tongue, a former Labour MEP and deputy leader of the European Labour Party, said she jumped ship six weeks ago because Jeremy Corbyn has obliterated any pro-European sentiment Labour had.

“You’re looking at a woman who worked to ensure that Labour was a pro-EU party from 1984 to 1999,” she said. Spirits are high. They are clear what they stand for. But will the public embrace this bid to break the mould? One poll yesterday had the party as low as one per cent, and analyst Peter Kellner asks in a blog: “Has Change UK blown it?”

Wimbledon, an area that voted 62 per cent Remain, could be fertile ground for Change UK. Staff at Creams British Luxury cafe said they knew about the party but were divided on whether it would get their vote. James Hall, 20, from Ireland, said voting for a united Europe is a priority, adding: “I will look more into Change UK.” Colleague Shaun Bushby, 21, said: “It’s healthier for politics to have two new parties on the scene, the Brexit Party and Change UK. If Change UK does well at the EU election it will be interesting to see what their agenda is.”

But lawyer Sarah Prickett, 32, said: “I will probably vote but I don’t know who for. I don’t feel very enthusiastic.” She did not know much about Change UK but her friend Nicky Tibbs, 30, a teacher, interrupted: “That’s Chuka’s party. I’m not especially interested in it.”

David Kugler, 27, who was born in Hungary but has British citizenship, said: “I was thinking more of Labour.”

Sue Page, who works at pet store Creature Company, voted Leave in 2016 and may not vote next week because she has no faith anyone will listen. “I’m in two minds,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know what it will achieve.”

She too admitted she did not really know about Change UK. Polls suggest the party is losing ground to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

Gavin Esler, the former BBC presenter, is one of the big guns that Change UK hopes will wake up the voters. “I was born in a council house and I know the Nigels, Borises and Rees-Moggs weren’t,” said Esler, who grew up in Glasgow and is frustrated that Brexiteers like Nigel Farage pose as “real people” against a Remain elite. “The Leave troll factory has been attacking us, but they wouldn’t if we weren’t relevant. They wouldn’t be trying to strangle us at birth.”

By Kate Proctor

Asked if a vote was another “throw of the dice”, he said that if MPs voted down Mrs May’s deal Britain would head either for a no-deal exit or for the cancellation of Brexit.

He added: “Yes, there’ll be an opportunity for MPs to decide … whether they want to vote for Brexit or not. I think MPs will have to look and see whether they want to continue down a path inexorably that takes us either to the potential of revocation of Article 50 or leaving without a deal and asking whether that’s the best course democratically or economically for the UK? MPs will have to face that decision.”

He said MPs would “have to face the political consequences of failing to carry out their part of the bargain” if Brexit was stopped.

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-may-given-24hour-deadline-to-say-when-she-will-quit-a4142761.html

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Theresa May braces to stay in office until SEPTEMBER sparking new Tory revolt

Dan Bloom - Online Political Editor — Wed, 08 May 2019 02:09:38 +0000

Tory MPs are set to meet today, furious about Brexit, amid rumours of a 4pm deadline for the Prime Minister to set out when she’ll quit.

Theresa May pictured yesterday at No10 – where aides are now considering the end of July as a possible deadline to get her Brexit deal (Image: Ben Cawthra/LNP)

Theresa May faces a new Tory revolt after she braced to stay in office as late as September.

The Prime Minister could end up squatting in Downing Street through the summer break after setting a new end-of-July deadline to clinch her Brexit deal.

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The admission is likely to spark fresh Tory fury, with the PM already facing open calls from MPs and activists to quit.

Today the 1922 Committee, which represents Tory MPs, will meet once again and discuss changing rules to oust her.

Reports claim she has been set a deadline of 4pm today to set her exit date – or be toppled.

A July deadline could stall a Tory leadership contest and mean it finishes in September (Image: Peter Macdiarmid/LNP)

The powerful Committee’s executive will discuss a crucial ’12-month rule’ in the Tory party.

This rule prevents any binding no confidence vote in Mrs May as leader, until December – one year after she survived the last effort by 200 to 117.

A previous bid to scrap the ’12-month’ rule was blocked by the Committee’s executive last month.

But that vote was narrow, and some Tory members now say they could change their minds and back a rule change.

One told the Financial Times: “If the PM refuses to budge on when she will go, committee members will be reconsidering their stance.”

Another told the Guardian: “We want certainty for an orderly and timely exit with or without a deal.

“The can cannot be kicked down the road until October.”

1922 Committee chief Sir Graham Brady went to see the Prime Minister yesterday (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Mrs May has said she will quit – but only once her Brexit deal is agreed. And there’s no sign of that yet because compromise talks with Labour are stalling.

That means calls are rising for her to go sooner, with 800 Tory activists holding a non-binding no confidence vote on June 15.

Amid mounting pressure yesterday she met Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee.

With Brexit delayed as late as October 31, he urged the embattled Tory leader to set a clear timetable for her departure.

Yet instead Downing Street responded by putting the date for a Brexit deal back even further.

Mrs May’s loyal deputy David Lidington confirmed the UK will enter EU elections on May 23 – costing £150million.

Meanwhile, talks with Labour’s Sue Hayman and John McDonnell appear to be falling (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

And Downing Street abandoned her vow that “as Prime Minister” she could not delay beyond June 30.

Instead the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “In relation to the Parliamentary timetable we would look to complete this ideally by June 30, but if not then, by summer recess.”

The summer recess begins near the end of July and lasts well over a month – about the same as school holidays.

This could, in turn, delay her departure to September – because it leaves a conundrum in a Tory leadership contest, the Times reported.

The first stage of a Tory leadership race involves MPs voting in a series of ‘knock-out’ rounds to find two top candidates.

Boris Johnson is among a fleet of Tory leadership contenders (Image: PA)

But traditionally this only occurs when Parliament is sitting.

If a deal is only agreed days before MPs’ summer holiday, there is speculation there would not be enough time to complete it and MPs would have to come back in September.

The treasurer of the 1922 Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, warned it would “get messy” if Mrs May refuses to lay out a timetable for her departure.

He said: “It would be much easier and I think the European elections would be much easier if she did set out her own timetable to go but it is up to her.

“I think it’s quite possible they (grass roots members) might vote for no-confidence in June.”

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-braces-stay-office-until-15013266

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The post Theresa May braces to stay in office until SEPTEMBER sparking new Tory revolt first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

May Faces Coup in Her Party Over Agreeing on Brexit Deal With Labour – Reports

Sputnik — Tue, 07 May 2019 08:45:52 +0000

AP Photo /Frank Augstein

The prime minister, unsuccessfully struggling to deliver the UK’s promised divorce from the EU, has already survived a no-confidence vote. This made Theresa May immune to a forced resignation until the end of this year, but did not relieve her from pressure within the Conservative Party.

Theresa May’s reported plans to ally with the Conservatives’ political rivals, the Labour Party, has discouraged her fellow Tories. The Daily Telegraph reports, that Conservative lawmakers “will move to oust” her this week if she strikes an agreement with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, designed to avoid sending new MEPs to the European Parliament.

According to the outlet, the prime minister has been warned about it. The newspaper cites senior Tory sources saying that May will be “gone very quickly” if she agrees to meet Labour’s demands to install a UK-EU customs union after Britain leaves the bloc.

The outlet cites a senior minister, as saying “That will be the decision point for a lot of MPs when it comes to deciding the Prime Minister’s future”.

“It’s going to be very difficult to support any deal Labour would support. It all comes down to the same old problem, that they want a full and permanent customs union, and we made a manifesto pledge to leave the customs union”, the minister reportedly stated, adding it was going to be “a trust problem”.

Meanwhile, the grassroots Tories are paving the way for the prime minister to leave her post. According to multiple reports, an unprecedented confidence vote on May is expected to take place at an Extraordinary General Meeting, scheduled for 15 June. Even though the vote is non-binding according to the existing 12-month moratorium, losing it would put a great deal of pressure on the prime minister, who has already survived an internal no-confidence vote, to resign.

There was certain speculation that backbenchers on the party’s 1922 Committee might change the existing rules, but they eventually rejected the calls for amendments and decided to grant the party leader a 12-month grace period to go unchallenged.

However, as its joint executive secretary Nigel Evans hinted, they are ready to review this stance “if she tries any stalling”.

“No-one expects her to be in Downing Street beyond June 30 and there is growing discontentment with her within the Party”, he told the outlet.

In March, May promised to step down if Tories back the Brexit withdrawal deal she negotiated with Brussels. She noted that she knew that the MPs did not want her to lead the next phase of the Brexit negotiations, saying “and I won’t stand in the way of that”.

The post May Faces Coup in Her Party Over Agreeing on Brexit Deal With Labour – Reports first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Brexit LIVE: Theresa May SHUNNED by own party in election campaign – ‘She’s TOXIC!’

Paul Withers — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:53:17 +0000

TORY councillors will not mention Theresa May’s name on voters’ doorsteps ahead of the local elections next month due to voters associating it with ‘betrayal’ as the UK’s Prime Minister has still failed to pass a withdrawal agreement in Parliament.

Grassroots members of the Conservatives are concerned that her name will prove toxic and get in the way of their campaigning and instead have been focusing on the issues affecting people’s lives at home. The local elections will take place on May 2 when 8,773 council seats will be in the hands of voters across 259 councils in England and Northern Ireland.

Theresa May has had a backlash from Tories for not yet passing a Brexit deal (Image: GETTY)

Tory peer Lord Hayward has warned that the local elections could hit the Tories with a ‘Brexit penalty’ over how the party has dealt with its departure from the EU.

Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, said in The Telegraph: “Failing to deliver Brexit is now doing serious damage to the Conservatives’ electoral prospects.”

Jan French, chairman of the Conservative Association in a Cambridgeshire constituency said: “I don’t talk about her at all.

“As far as we are concerned these are local elections and they are nothing to do with national politics.

“We are having a bit of a tough time on the doorsteps and we want to be talking about local things we can do and achieve.”

Follow here for live Brexit updates today:

9.36pm update: May risks INFURIATING Brexiteers demanding her resignation with Queen’s Speech plans

Theresa May could enrage Tory MPs by asking for new legislative plans for the re-opening of Parliament after the Easter break – despite pledging she would stand down as party leader before the “next phase” of Brexit talks.

Government officials have been told to prepare final plans for legislation to be included in the Queens Speech, which opens Parliament annual after the Easter recess.

But The Times reports the Prime Minister told Government departments she will “actively consider” ideas for the speech, which details the Government’s legislative programme.

But the move will anger Tory MPs, following Mrs May pledging to stand down from office before the next phase of Brexit talks begin.

Any attempt by Mrs May to open a new session of Parliament will enrage Tory MPs asking for her to stand down.

It would also require a renewal of the Conservatives’ confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who are at loggerheads with Mrs May over her Brexit plan.

Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party has seen its popularity soar, according to one poll (Image: REUTERS)

8.33pm update: Bercow faces new plot to be OUSTED as Speaker – ‘Time to STAND UP to him’

Brexiteers have launched a fresh attempt to oust Commons Speaker John Bercow over his shameless Remainer bias.

Former minister Crispin Blunt has been rallying support for a motion of no confidence over Mr Bercow’s handling of laws taking Britain out of the European Union.

The Tory MP wants to pile pressure on the Speaker to quit after speculation he will stay in post until after the Brexit deadlock is resolved.

“Even his most partisan supporters for the positive changes he has delivered as Speaker do not now seriously dispute his bias in the conduct of our affairs,” he said.

“But it now goes way beyond the Brexit debate.

“The public should never underestimate how far reaching the implications of these powers are for our democracy.

“The holder of this great office decides which MPs can speak in the House of Commons Chamber during debates and selects the amendments that MPs vote on, giving the Speaker the effective power to shape legislation.

“If colleagues are too cowed or too content with the direction of his bias to state their view on Speaker Bercow’s obvious partiality, then not only will he feel able to continue, as is being reported in the media, but also feel able to do so exercising the power of his office wholly inappropriately.

“MPs will have failed to stand up for our most basic standards and have no one to blame but ourselves.”

6.27pm update: Farage’s Brexit Party DECIMATING ‘vulnerable’ Tories ahead of European elections

Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party is displaying “significant pulling power” over the “vulnerable” Tory electorate, according to a leading political expert.

A YouGov poll suggested that the Conservatives only had 15 percent of the vote ahead of the European elections, whereas the combined score of UKIP and the Brexit Party had shot to 34 percent.

Political expert Matthew Goodwin told TalkRADIO: “If you look at the polls that came out yesterday – the Brexit Party and UKIP combined are on 34 percent.

“So that suggests to me that the Brexit Party still have a few more points to climb as it eats into that UKIP vote.”

Two MEPs think Brexit should be scrapped (Image: PA)

5.12pm update: Cabinet wasted £13m of taxpayers money for redundant no deal Brexit plans

Cabinet wasted more than £13million in just two months in a bid to find alternatives to the much-debated Irish backstop and prepare for a no deal Brexit that never happened.

The Government splashed out in vain £12.4million between mid-November and mid-January on external consultants’ fees and £700,000 more in a PR push publicising Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement and her hard Brexit plans.

The consultants were asked to draw up alternative plans to the Irish backstop, against which MPs had already announced in December they would oppose. They also had to prepare the country for a no deal Brexit if the British Parliament failed to reach an agreement by March 29.

But these costly efforts turned out to be ineffective, as the Prime Minister’s deal was overwhelmingly defeated on January 15 by a record 220 votes.

Labour MP and supporter of the pro-EU organisation Best for Britain Tonia Antoniazzi dubbed this wasted fundings “yet more clueless spending from the Government”.

3:59pm update: Lord Maurice Glasman has warned Brexit Party is a “serious threat” to Labour Party

The peer has said that Labour is at risk due to voters feeling ignored after the EU referendum result.

He said: “People see this clearly for what it is which is a refusal of the ruling class to accept their vote,” said the peer.

“If Labour can’t lead the democratic possibility of this then people will swing to the right.

“That is my obvious fear.”

2:29PM update: Tories re-select TWO MEP candidates who support a second referendum for EU elections

Theresa May has faced increasing pressure to support a second referendum as she remains in a bitter struggle to get her Withdrawal Agreement passed in the House of Commons.

Sajjad Karim, who has described Brexit as ‘madness’, will be top of the party’s MEP candidates list in the North West of England.

Also Charles Tannock, who co-founded the Conservatives for a People’s Vote campaign, will be on the ballot paper in London for the EU elections

Theresa May has been helping at her local 10km race (Image: LNP)

1:55pm update: Irish Brexit border issue could endanger EU-U.S. trade deal says a US congressman

Democratic Congressman Richard Neal said: “If America wants a trade agreement with the European Union, which I think is very desirable – I want it – at the same time you are back to the same issue on the border if you do anything that dampens or softens the Good Friday Agreement.”

Mr Neal is visiting Ireland with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

12:27pm update: MEPs speak out about how uncertain their lives are currently

The MEPs thought they would not have a job after March 29 but the deadline of Article 50 continues to be pushed back so they are now living in a very uncertain situation.

Catherine Bearder, Liberal Democrat MEP, said to the BBC: “Life is never certain as a politician, but this is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before.”

Former UKIP MEP Nathan Gill called their nomadic situation “disgraceful”.

11:53am update: There has been an increase in number of people buying holidays on ferries after Brexit delay

European ferry services have reported a surge in sales of more than 50% as people book their summer breaks after Article 50 has been delayed.

Before the delay, holidaymakers had faced warnings of difficulties of travelling to Europe if there was a no deal Brexit.

11:10am update: Tories lagging behind Brexit Party ahead of EU elections

Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party is displaying “pulling power” over the Tory electorate, says an expert.

A YouGov poll suggested that the Conservatives only had 15 percent of the vote ahead of the European elections – he combined score of UKIP and the Brexit Party had shot to 34 percent.

10:45am update: Theresa May helps out at the Maidenhead Easter 10km run in her constituency in Berkshire

The Prime Minister has been helping out this Good Friday.

10:16am update: Labour MPs urge Jeremy Corbyn not to insist on second referendum

MPs in the Labour Party are set to write a letter describing their “deep-seated reservations about a second referendum”, which they believe would be “divisive but … not decisive”.

The MPs say a second referendum could cause talks over Brexit to collapse.

9:18am update: UK families spend more on everyday goods due to Brexit

The fall in the value of the pound has resulted in the pound not stretch as far as it used to.

According to new research by the People’s Vote campaign, the average household will have paid £550 more since 2016 due to Brexit.

Additional reporting by Laura Mowat.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1116298/brexit-news-latest-update-theresa-may-eu-deal-brexit-delay-conservatives-may-elections

[Disclaimer]

The post Brexit LIVE: Theresa May SHUNNED by own party in election campaign – ‘She’s TOXIC!’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Jeremy Corbyn on course for Downing Street

The Week - UK News — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:28:53 +0000

Polls paint grim picture for Conservatives, who face electoral wipeout at local, national and European level.

Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images – Jeremy Corbyn voting in 2017

A flurry of polls suggest Jeremy Corbyn is on course to sweep into Downing Street following a general election, as voters turn their anger on the government for failing to deliver Brexit.

A poll of polls for The Sunday Telegraph predicts the Conservatives would lose 59 seats if a vote were held today, making Labour the largest party in the Commons. This would not be enough to secure Corbyn a working majority but would put him in prime position to agree a power-sharing deal with other progressive parties such as the SNP, Lib Dems or Change UK.

Meanwhile, high profile Tories at risk of losing their seat if a snap vote is called include former leader Iain Duncan Smith and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, who has been widely courted by prospective leadership contenders.

A separate poll by Opinium put Labour seven points ahead of the Tories, echoing the findings of YouGov polling last week which showed Tory support had slumped to its lowest level in six years.

The survey in The Independent put Theresa May’s party on 28% in the event of a general election, down four points since the start of April, with only a two thirds of voters who backed the Tories in the 2017 election saying they would back them again.

Earlier this month dozens of Tory association chairmen wrote to Conservative campaign headquarters warning that the Tories face an electoral “wipeout” at local elections in early May.

Since then, however, things have gone from bad to worse. Theresa May was forced to ask for yet another extension to Article 50 which delays Brexit until Halloween, meaning the UK will have to contest European Parliamentary elections, three years after Britain voted to leave the EU.

A survey from Hanbury Strategy, the first to poll British voter intention ahead of EP elections, shows Labour on 37% with the Conservatives way behind on 23%.

It appears Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party has be the main beneficiary of public anger, scooping up disgruntled Conservative voters at a local, national and European level.

Angry at her failure to successfully navigate the UK out of the EU, it appears Theresa May’s dramatic U-turn in reaching out to Corbyn was the final straw for grassroots supporters in finally turning against the party. Associations claim one of the main attack lines on Labour – that the veteran socialist represents a risk to national security – has effectively been nullified after the prime minister chose to engage him in the Brexit process.

The Telegraph reports that “amid growing calls for May to resign, Conservative Party lawyers potentially opened the door for MPs to formally oust the prime minister within months, with officials advising the influential 1922 Committee that the panel could rewrite the rules currently preventing MPs from mounting more than one attempt to oust a leader per year”.

There was also a word of warning from Labour’s leader in the European parliament. Richard Corbett and other grandees have said that the party will be deserted by millions of anti-Brexit voters if it fails to clearly back a second referendum in its manifesto for next month’s EU elections.

It comes “amid growing fears at the top of the party that it could lose a generation of young, pro-EU voters if it does not guarantee another public vote”, The Guardian says.

MPs say that young people, as well as many other Remainers, could turn instead to unambiguously anti-Brexit parties, including the fledgling independent group Change UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SNP.

The leader article in The Times says “Corbyn, a lifelong Brexiteer, has no desire for a second referendum but if his party’s membership twisted his arm at this autumn’s conference, he might see that as a price worth paying for getting closer to Downing Street”.

“The risk to Labour votes in leave-supporting seats, against a Brexit vote split between the Tories, UKIP and Nigel Farage’s new party, should not be exaggerated” he writes, adding that “a Labour commitment to a referendum would also shoot the fox of Change UK, the party formed by the independent group of MPs” it adds.

Source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/100752/jeremy-corbyn-on-course-for-downing-street

[Disclaimer]

The post Jeremy Corbyn on course for Downing Street first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.