WATCH: Brexiteer Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns calls on Theresa May to quit in Commons clash
3 min read
Theresa May has been dealt a fresh blow after a Conservative colleague confronted her in the Commons to demand that she quit as Prime Minister.
In a sensational intervention, arch-Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns said the PM had “failed” following last week’s devastating local election results and amid the current Brexit impasse.
The Tories suffered their worst defeat since 1995 after more than 1,300 councillors were ousted from their seats.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions today, Ms Jenkyns said: “The Prime Minister has tried her best, nobody could fault or doubt her commitment or sense of duty, but she has failed.
“She has failed to deliver on her promises, we have lost 1,300 hard-working councillors and sadly the public no longer trust her to run the Brexit negotiations.
“Isn’t it time to step aside and let someone new lead our party, our country and the negotiations?”
The PM shot back at her colleague – who has voted down the deal with the EU on three occasions – adding: “This is not an issue about me and this is not an issue about her.”
“If it were an issue about me and how I vote, we would already have left the European Union.”
Watch the clash below:
Senior Conservative MPs had called on Mrs May to outline a "road map" for her departure ahead of a meeting on Wednesday afternoon of the influential 1922 committee of backbenchers.
But a Downing Street spokesperson said the Prime Minister would not be setting out a timetable on quitting, even if the ongoing Brexit deadlock continues.
They said: "She is here to deliver Brexit in phase one and then she will make way for phase two."
The latest blue-on-blue clash comes a day after another senior Tory MP accused some of his colleagues of "blame displacement" against the Prime Minister.
Brexiteer Charles Walker told the BBC: “We all need to take personal responsibility for the fact that we are still in the EU and we are in government.
"This idea that a new Prime Minister [will] all be sweetness and light is for the birds."
Mrs May, who before becoming an MP in 1997 served as a councillor in south London, also apologised that so many Tories lost their seats “very often for no fault of their own”.
“I’ve been a councillor, I know the hard work and dedication it takes," she added.
"I’ve also been a councillor who has stood in an election against a difficult national background under a Conservative government, so I know what that feels like as well.
“And I thank all those councillors for their hard work and I congratulate those Conservative councillors who won their seats for the first time across the country as well.”
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