LONDON, December 12
Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to fight for her job in a leadership challenge on Wednesday triggered by Conservative lawmakers, saying a change could jeopardise Britain’s divorce from the European Union.
Less than four months before the United Kingdom is due to leave on March 29, Brexit is in chaos with options ranging from a potentially disorderly no-deal departure to another referendum that could reverse it.
Speaking outside her Downing Street residence hours before the vote of confidence on her leadership, May said she would battle for her premiership with everything she had.
In a stark warning to Brexit-supporting opponents who instigated the challenge, May said if they toppled her then the EU exit would be delayed and perhaps even stopped.
A new leader would not have time to renegotiate a deal with the EU and secure parliamentary approval by the end of March, meaning the Article 50 withdrawal notice would have to be extended or rescinded, she said.
“A change of leadership in the Conservative Party now would put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it,” she said. “Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country.”
A secret ballot will be held on Wednesday in a room at the House of Commons. Before the vote, May will speak to lawmakers at a closed meeting.
According to the rules, May could be toppled if a simple majority of Conservative lawmakers vote against her, though a significant rebellion could also undermine her position. At least 153 of her 315 Conservative lawmakers had expressed public support for her.
Brexit is Britain’s most significant political and economic decision since World War Two, though pro-Europeans fear it will weaken the West as it grapples with the presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.
May, a 62-year-old vicar’s daughter who voted to remain in the EU, won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 EU referendum but promised to implement Brexit, while keeping close ties to the bloc, as a way to heal a divided nation. — Reuters
Conservative Party a divided house
- A schism over Europe in the Conservative Party over Britain’s relationship with the EU contributed to the fall of all three previous Conservative premiers - David Cameron, John Major and Margaret Thatcher
- Cameron bet all on a referendum he lost in 2016. Now, May - whose personal standing was already weakened by a snap election last year which cost her a parliamentary majority - also sees her own fate at risk over Europe
- Senior ministers, including those for finance, foreign affairs, the environment and the interior, warned that changing leader at such an important moment in British history was folly
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