Crisis for Theresa May as top Tories line up to express doubt over whether she will be able to continue as PM
Philip Hammond and Sajid Javid refused to say they want the PM to carry on until 2022
THERESA MAY today faced near-open revolt from her top ministers as senior Tories refused to back her to lead the party into the next election.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said only that he would support her for another term IF she wants to stay on, while Sajid Javid pointedly declined to express support for her.
Prominent MP Grant Shapps also twisted the knife, saying it would be “impossible” for Mrs May to continue until 2022.
The Conservative party conference in Manchester opens today with the PM intent on stamping her authority on MPs and activists.
But senior ministers undermined Mrs May by slamming her General Election campaign and suggesting she may not serve a full term as Prime Minister.
Mr Hammond refused to say whether or not he wants the PM to stay on for five years, only: “She has said that she intends to fight the next election, and if that’s what she does, I will back her.”
He denied claims that he sent texts to Boris Johnson plotting against Mrs May on the night of the Tory election disaster - but hinted he may have spoken to the Foreign Secretary in person about unseating the PM.
The Chancellor said: “It’s completely against my character to write down anything like that. I do not write people texts of that description.”
He criticised key manifesto promises including the dementia tax, saying: “To drop something like that into a manifesto, launched without any sort of preparation of public opinion, was a mistake.”
Mr Javid, the Business Secretary, was also asked if he wanted Mrs May to stay on as Tory leader into the next election.
He refused to answer the question, : “I think we’re out of time.”
And he said the Tories had lost the support of young people because they spent too much time “banging on about Brexit” instead of creating policies to improve people’s lives.
But this morning Mr Javid claimed he had only rushed his interview because “I had a date with my wife and I didn’t want to be late”.
When Sky News asked if he would support Mrs May in 2022, he replied: “Yes, if that’s what she wants to do she should, and she’d have my backing.”
Former party chairman Mr Shapps, who is now on the back benches, blasted the PM and suggested she should quit after we leave the EU in 2019.
He told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “After an election like that you can’t go on till 2022, it’s impossible - let’s be honest about that and say it.
“We got into this mess by having an unnecessary election.”
Mrs May’s closest ally Damian Green insisted that “the whole Cabinet” should share the blame for the election disaster - but admitted that the manifesto was not good enough.
He told Peston that the party’s election agenda had failed to reflect the Prime Minister’s desire to change the country in order to help disadvantaged people.
Mr Green said: “We ran an election campaign that was ‘no change’ with a Prime Minister who wanted to.”
This week’s Tory conference is set to be overshadowed by rows over Mrs May’s future.
It has emerged that Boris Johnson thinks the Prime Minister will be gone in a year - and mocked her for being a “slave” to her advisers.
