Theresa May faces calls to step down for younger leader after seeing off coup from critics
THERESA May was hit by a call to step aside after Brexit for a “new generation” only hours after seeing off a coup from hardcore critics.
Igniting a fresh bout of Conservative Party bloodletting, rising star Tom Tugendhat said the Tories needed “a generational shift” toward a younger and more modern leader.
And in a direct assault on the PM, the powerful backbencher claimed he was “part of that generation” alongside Scottish Tory boss Ruth Davidson.
Comparing the fall out from Brexit to the end of the Second World War, the former soldier hit out: “People actually want change.
The vast majority of my generation wants to stop banging on about Europe.”
He said the current generation of leading politicians had been “consumed” by the bitter referendum battle, as he also took aim at Boris Johnson saying “there are many more interesting things to talk about.”
The explosive intervention came after yet another day of bitter public sniping within the Government ranks.
Senior Tory Brexiteers last night declared Theresa May is safe in No10 until after Brexit as they quashed a fledgling coup by hardliners.
No10 was sent into a panic after it emerged furious members of the European Research Group openly plotted how to oust the PM in a hot-headed Commons meeting on Tuesday night.
But other Tory MPs also at the meeting revealed the putsch was not supported by the full 50-strong group, but “only about six usual suspects”.
It emerged the uprising was lead two bitter critics of the PM, Tory backbenchers James Duddridge and Andrea Jenkyns.
A senior member of ERG and former Cabinet minister told The Sun: “Theresa May is safe until March 29.
“Even if we had the numbers, there isn’t the time to do this before Brexit as it would take three months to pick a new leader.
“The hot heads have been told to calm down and concentrate for now on what we can achieve.”
Former Tory leader and ERG member Iain Duncan Smith told the plotters to “grow up and leave the room”, adding that talk of a coup was “totally overblown”.
IDS added: “All I would say to them is: stop it, it’s just stupid. If you’ve got nothing better to do, go and find yourself some work, because that’s the best cure for stupid personality nonsense”.
Other senior Leavers also pledged their loyalty to Mrs May, for now.
ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg dubbed the PM “worthy of our support”, adding: “I have long said that the policy needs to be changed, but I am supporting the person”.
Brexiteer loyalist Cabinet minister Michael Gove also warned the angry rebels that their scheming is putting Brexit itself at risk.
The Environment Secretary implored: ““The critical thing is we need to make sure we have unity in the Conservative Party behind the Prime Minister’s proposition.
“This is loose talk. Any diversion or distraction from that mission means our ability to deliver on the referendum mandate is undermined.”
Other Brexiteers claimed the ERG hot heads were allowed to run riot at the meeting as most of its more senior figures were not there – including Bernard Jenkin, David Davis, Owen Patterson, Boris Johnson and IDS, as well as Mr Rees-Mogg himself.
The Sun says
TORY mutineers against Theresa May should stop wasting their energy.
No new leader could change the fact this Government has no majority. A committed Brexiteer as PM won’t persuade Tory
Remainers to vote for no-deal, or any deal they perceive to be too hard.
Labour will oppose anything. And the Tory right cannot even yet agree on an alternative to Mrs May’s Chequers offer.
We have grave doubts about Chequers.
So does the EU. It doesn’t look a goer.
But the focus of every Tory MP, even above Brexit, should be keeping Corbyn out. The last thing they need is a traumatic, protracted leadership contest.
Senior Brexiteers are right to put the lid back on the plot.
Mrs May is their lightning rod in the Brexit storm. Toppling her at this point would be madness
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But just hours fears of a Brexiteer coup receded, Downing Street were hit with the incendiary interview from Mr Tugedenhat - who is on the left of the party - appearing in The Spectator.
The MP for Tonbridge in Kent, said the Tories had to start talking “about the optimism we feel in the country”.
And in a further dig at Theresa May the boss of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said he had “noticed” that recent government policies have focused on banning things or raising taxes.
Asked what he would do with the keys to No10, he made a passionate plea to simplify the tax system, reform business rates and rescue the high street.
But he risked ridicule from Ministers after demanding Defence spending be hiked from 3 to 5 per cent of GDP - a raise in of more than £45 billion.
Mr Tugendhat hit the headlines last month after revealing he juggled home life and his career as an MP by changing his baby daughter’s nappy while taking part in a live radio grillings.
He said: “If I have an interview to do I just have to hope they don’t wake up and, if they do, that they’ll accept their breakfast in silence... or will let me change nappies without making a sound. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
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