A weakened Theresa May emerged from a vote of no confidence shorn of her hopes of leading the party into the next election and the support of more than a third of her MPs.
The prime minister faced immediate calls to resign after winning a ballot of 317 Tory MPs with a majority of just 83. The margin was far smaller than Downing Street had hoped for and looks sure to create more political uncertainty.
Mrs May’s supporters cheered wildly at the initial announcement that the Conservative Party’s MPs did have confidence in their prime minister. The narrow scale of that victory will have serious implications for her future and that of her Brexit deal.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC the result was “terrible” for Mrs May. He said: “She ought to go and see the Queen urgently and resign.”
Mrs May had earlier promised a private meeting of Tory MPs that she would not seek to contest the next election. She also pledged to restore relations with the Tories’ parliamentary allies, the Democratic Unionist Party.
Mrs May has said she is seeking legally-binding reassurances to the Irish backstop, the main sticking point of her Brexit deal and updated the DUP on her efforts to win concessions from Brussels.
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, parried Mrs May’s embrace, however: “We emphasised that tinkering around the edges would not work. We were not seeking assurances or promises. We wanted fundamental legal text changes.”
Voting had opened minutes after she told her party she would not fight the next election.
Mrs May appeared before the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs shortly after 5pm to declare that she understood their concerns and would not seek to stay in office to the next general election. She stopped short of spelling out a timetable.
Jo Churchill was the first MP to enter Commons committee room 14 to cast his ballot.
As two hours of voting began, 174 Tory MPs had publicly declared in her favour and 33 against, prompting private angst among Brexiteers.
It comes after 48 submitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham.
Mrs May addressed the Committee at 5pm in a last-ditch pitch to keep her job. She vowed to contest the vote with “everything I have got” as she warned that removing her as prime minister risked delaying or even cancelling Brexit.
Downing Street had insisted that she would not use victory in the confidence vote to cling on until the next election. No 10 abandoned her claim that she would lead the Conservatives into the next election as Tory leader. Instead her spokesman said she would serve only as long as her party wants her.
The aide refused to be drawn on whether Mrs May was committing to stand down or set a leaving date.
The gambit is designed to reassure MPs — including potential successors in her cabinet — that there will be a leadership election after Britain has left the EU next year.
Mrs May had been urged to name her departure date to avoid defeat and MPs loyal to her had believed she would secure a commanding victory if she was clear about when she plans to leave Downing Street.
By mid-morning the entire cabinet had come out to back Mrs May, including key Brexiteers such as Michael Gove, the environment secretary, who said “no one is better placed to ensure we deliver on the British people’s decision to leave the EU”. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said the prime minister “has always done what she firmly believes is in the national interest”.
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, risked further inflaming divisions by calling hard Brexiteers “extremists”. He told Sky News: “I think what this vote today will do is flush out the extremists who are trying to advance a particular agenda which would really not be in the interests of the British people or the British economy.”
Several ministers, including Sajid Javid, the home secretary, and David Gauke, the justice minister, accused Mrs May’s critics of “self-indulgence”.
Mr Gove insisted that Mrs May was the best person “to ensure we deliver on the British people’s decision to leave the EU”.
After Sir Graham announced the letters had gone in this morning, Mrs May used a statement outside No 10 to list her history as a Conservative activist, councillor, MP, frontbencher, home secretary and now prime minister, vowing: “I will contest that vote with everything I have got.”
She warned that a change of leadership now would put Britain’s future at risk, insisting that a Brexit deal was “now within our grasp”.
A new leader would not have been in place before January 21, the deadline required for the government to finalise a Brexit deal or see parliament seize control of the process.
Mrs May said this risked “handing control to opposition parties in parliament”.
In a blunt warning to Tory MPs plotting to oust her, she said: “The only people whose interests would be served are Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.”
Mrs May also used the speech to return to the themes of her very first address outside Downing Street when she became prime minister in July 2016, promising to “build a country that works for everyone”.
Warning of the dangers of installing a new prime minister, Mrs May said: “One of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding Article 50 . . . delaying or even stopping Brexit.” She added that a change in leader “would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the parliamentary arithmetic” but would “create more division”.
The electorate grew by two today when the whip was restored to a pair of MPs who were undergoing lengthy suspensions. Andrew Griffiths, who quit as a minister and was suspended in mid-July after sending a series of sexual messages to two barmaids, vowed to back Mrs May, praising her “huge determination and bravery in negotiating and arguing for her deal.”
Soon after news of Mr Griffith’s return to the Tory fold, it emerged that Charlie Elphicke, who has been suspended from the Conservative Party since November 2017, had also had the whip reinstated.
At a press conference this morning David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, refused to give his backing to Mrs May or rule out standing for the leadership if she was defeated. He said much would depend on her speech to the 1922 Committee tonight but hinted that unless she dropped her support for the current agreement he would not back her.
Despite widespread claims of rank and file discontent with Mrs May’s deal, 58 per cent of Conservative voters want her to remain as Conservative leader and prime minister, according to a poll by YouGov. Twenty eight per cent said she should be replaced. Amongst the general public, 40 per cent want her to remain as leader and 34 per cent think she should be replaced.
David Cameron, the former prime minister, urged MPs to back Mrs May. “I hope Conservative MPs will back the PM in the vote today,” he said. “We need no distractions from seeking the best outcome with our neighbours, friends and partners in the EU.”
