This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/14/iain-duncan-smith-urges-theresa-may-quit-next-month
The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Iain Duncan Smith urges Theresa May to quit next month | Iain Duncan Smith urges Theresa May to quit next month |
| (5 days later) | |
| The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has called on Theresa May to resign as prime minister next month, saying the timetable for her departure should still stand despite her failure to pass a withdrawal agreement. | The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has called on Theresa May to resign as prime minister next month, saying the timetable for her departure should still stand despite her failure to pass a withdrawal agreement. |
| “I know that the prime minister has already said she’s going. She said she would go as and when the agreement was ratified, which was looking at around about May, June. I think those dates still stand,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. | “I know that the prime minister has already said she’s going. She said she would go as and when the agreement was ratified, which was looking at around about May, June. I think those dates still stand,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. |
| Tories hit by new defections and slump in opinion polls as party divide widens | Tories hit by new defections and slump in opinion polls as party divide widens |
| “I think that what the PM has to do is aim everything now towards departure before the Euros [elections] which would then allow her to step away having done what she said she would do, getting the UK out of the European Union one way or the other and then we can have another leadership election and pick a new leader, which is the way it has to be.” | “I think that what the PM has to do is aim everything now towards departure before the Euros [elections] which would then allow her to step away having done what she said she would do, getting the UK out of the European Union one way or the other and then we can have another leadership election and pick a new leader, which is the way it has to be.” |
| His intervention came as two former chairmen of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs said party rules could be changed to allow a leadership challenge sooner than December. | His intervention came as two former chairmen of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs said party rules could be changed to allow a leadership challenge sooner than December. |
| European parliament elections take place across the UK and the rest of the EU, with any campaign likely to be dominated in the UK by smaller protest parties including Nigel Farage’s Brexit party and Ukip, as well as Change UK. | European parliament elections take place across the UK and the rest of the EU, with any campaign likely to be dominated in the UK by smaller protest parties including Nigel Farage’s Brexit party and Ukip, as well as Change UK. |
| Results of the European elections are declared from 10pm, with the Conservatives expecting massive losses. From the limited amount of polling that has been carried out so far, the Brexit party or Labour look like the probable winners. | Results of the European elections are declared from 10pm, with the Conservatives expecting massive losses. From the limited amount of polling that has been carried out so far, the Brexit party or Labour look like the probable winners. |
| Theresa May is planing to bring her withdrawal agreement back to to parliament for another vote. | |
| This is the crucial date past which May said she would not countenance the UK staying in the EU. May must have passed her withdrawal deal before this date in order avoid British MEPs taking up their seats. | This is the crucial date past which May said she would not countenance the UK staying in the EU. May must have passed her withdrawal deal before this date in order avoid British MEPs taking up their seats. |
| The Commons is expected to return from summer recess, bar any early recall to deal with a Brexit crisis. | The Commons is expected to return from summer recess, bar any early recall to deal with a Brexit crisis. |
| The Labour and Conservative party conferences are held on consecutive weeks. | The Labour and Conservative party conferences are held on consecutive weeks. |
| MPs return to parliament after the party conference season, 18 working days before the UK would be due to leave the EU. | MPs return to parliament after the party conference season, 18 working days before the UK would be due to leave the EU. |
| This is the last practical polling date on which a prime minister could hold a general election or second referendum – the final Thursday before the next meeting of the European council. | This is the last practical polling date on which a prime minister could hold a general election or second referendum – the final Thursday before the next meeting of the European council. |
| EU leaders meet for the final meeting of the European council before the UK’s extension is due to expire. | EU leaders meet for the final meeting of the European council before the UK’s extension is due to expire. |
| The six-month article 50 extension will expire. | The six-month article 50 extension will expire. |
| The next date on which Tory MPs can hold a confidence vote in Theresa May, if she remains at the helm. | The next date on which Tory MPs can hold a confidence vote in Theresa May, if she remains at the helm. |
| Rowena Mason | Rowena Mason |
| Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Spicer and Lord Hamilton of Epsom said the 12-month rule on no-confidence votes could be changed if MPs agreed to do so. “Conservative MPs are responsible for their party. If they wish to change these rules there is nothing standing in their way,” the pair wrote. | Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Spicer and Lord Hamilton of Epsom said the 12-month rule on no-confidence votes could be changed if MPs agreed to do so. “Conservative MPs are responsible for their party. If they wish to change these rules there is nothing standing in their way,” the pair wrote. |
| Graham Brady, the chair of the committee of backbenchers, said he believed such a change would be possible but said he was “less certain that it would be possible to change the rules during the current period of grace which was initiated with the triggering of a confidence vote on December 12 last year”. | Graham Brady, the chair of the committee of backbenchers, said he believed such a change would be possible but said he was “less certain that it would be possible to change the rules during the current period of grace which was initiated with the triggering of a confidence vote on December 12 last year”. |
| May faced a vote of no confidence in December after 15% of Conservative MPs wrote to Brady to request the vote, and won by 200 votes to 117. | May faced a vote of no confidence in December after 15% of Conservative MPs wrote to Brady to request the vote, and won by 200 votes to 117. |
| The party’s former chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin warned those agitating for a swift leadership change that installing a hard Brexiter in No 10 would not necessarily solve the party’s electoral problems. | The party’s former chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin warned those agitating for a swift leadership change that installing a hard Brexiter in No 10 would not necessarily solve the party’s electoral problems. |
| “Defining ourselves as the Brexit party, pursuing the hardest form of Brexit with a parliament that will not deliver it, is a recipe for paralysis in government and suicide with the electorate,” he wrote for the Sunday Times. “We are the Conservative party, not the Vote Leave party.” | “Defining ourselves as the Brexit party, pursuing the hardest form of Brexit with a parliament that will not deliver it, is a recipe for paralysis in government and suicide with the electorate,” he wrote for the Sunday Times. “We are the Conservative party, not the Vote Leave party.” |
| Recent polling has predicted dire results for Conservatives. The latest Opinium poll suggests the party has dropped six points over the past fortnight, giving Labour a seven-point lead. The support is the lowest the Tories have scored since the European elections in May 2014, almost five years ago, according to the pollster. | Recent polling has predicted dire results for Conservatives. The latest Opinium poll suggests the party has dropped six points over the past fortnight, giving Labour a seven-point lead. The support is the lowest the Tories have scored since the European elections in May 2014, almost five years ago, according to the pollster. |
| The poll shows the party losing ground with both leave and remain voters. Support from pro-EU Tory voters has fallen from 23% to 17% and the party has also fallen by 7% with leave voters. More than a fifth of leave voters now say they would vote Ukip. | The poll shows the party losing ground with both leave and remain voters. Support from pro-EU Tory voters has fallen from 23% to 17% and the party has also fallen by 7% with leave voters. More than a fifth of leave voters now say they would vote Ukip. |
| Duncan Smith said many in the party were deeply concerned about the polling. “It was on the 29th when we didn’t leave; that’s when this has all gone wrong. Up until then, people were prepared to give Theresa May the benefit of the doubt,” he said. | Duncan Smith said many in the party were deeply concerned about the polling. “It was on the 29th when we didn’t leave; that’s when this has all gone wrong. Up until then, people were prepared to give Theresa May the benefit of the doubt,” he said. |
| “The big problem was as soon as we didn’t leave, you could see all the poll ratings start to crash. And it’s wholly linked to the fact that to leave or remain, they were all expecting us to go, and when we didn’t go it looked like a complete breach with the pledge that we had made, and that’s a disaster for a political party.” | “The big problem was as soon as we didn’t leave, you could see all the poll ratings start to crash. And it’s wholly linked to the fact that to leave or remain, they were all expecting us to go, and when we didn’t go it looked like a complete breach with the pledge that we had made, and that’s a disaster for a political party.” |
| Theresa May | Theresa May |
| Iain Duncan Smith | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Conservative leadership | Conservative leadership |
| Brexit | Brexit |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| Foreign policy | Foreign policy |
| news | news |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |