Ministers in the British cabinet want Prime Minister Theresa May to resign immediately. This is reported in the newspaper The Sunday Times, which spoke with eleven rebels within the government. In the meantime, May is holding a crisis meeting in the Checkers estate.
The insurgent ministers would intend to confront their political boss tomorrow. They can then threaten to leave collectively if the prime minister refuses to leave. “The end is near, she left within ten days,” one of the ministers would have predicted.
May came to power in the chaotic period following the referendum in 2016. She undermined her authority by issuing early elections in 2017 and achieving a disappointing result.
The Conservative Party then saw its parliamentary majority go up in smoke. May concluded a Brexit deal with the EU last year but subsequently failed to steer it through her own lower house.
The ministers would now like to install an interim prime minister in her place. May’s second David Lidington, environment minister Michael Gove and foreign minister Jeremy Hunt are mentioned as possible candidates.
David Lidington, often called the de facto vice prime minister, could take over as an interim prime minister, reports the Sunday Times. He would be instructed to set a new course for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). He should also pave the way for a “regular” prime minister by the fall.
According to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, a source around the government reports that the cabinet “unanimously” agrees that May should leave as soon as possible.
The Guardian newspaper reports that the handful of remaining political allies of May are trying to keep her in the saddle. They warn that her departure could lead to even more division within the Conservative Party or new elections.