Theresa May to announce resignation date today

The Prime Minister is expected to address the date of her departure from Downing Street today, with some Tory MP’s expecting her to leave office on June 10.

Mrs May’s will today meet the leader of backbench Conservatives, Sir Graham Brady, to discuss her future after her authority was left in tatters following the backlash against her “new Brexit deal”.

Senior ministers set out their concerns in “frank” talks with the embattled Prime Minister last night as Downing Street delayed publication of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) which sets out her Brexit plan in law.

The Prime Minister’s private meeting with Sir Graham, chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, could be the moment that Mrs May sets the date for her exit from Downing Street.

A 1922 Committee source told the Press Association they expected June 10 to be the day Mrs May chooses.

“Hopefully what will happen is she will stand down as Tory leader I think on or before June 10, and she will hopefully remain as caretaker Prime Minister until such time as a new Tory leader is elected,” they said.

“My feeling is that she will stay until June 10.”

The source said a new leader would ideally be in place by the end of the summer to get a Brexit deal through Parliament before October 31, the date currently set for the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Mrs May’s leadership appears fatally damaged by the reaction to her latest Brexit deal, which offers MPs a vote on whether to hold a second referendum and a choice which could leave the UK in a temporary customs union with the EU – both measures which are unacceptable to Tory Eurosceptics.

The scale of Cabinet anger at the legislation – which led to Andrea Leadsom’s resignation on Wednesday night – was made clear by two of Mrs May’s most senior ministers.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is understood to have told the Prime Minister to ditch the WAB completely, saying it was clear it would not pass.

It was a “step too far” to ask Tory MPs to vote for it under those circumstances, he told the Prime Minister.

Mr Javid had a “frank discussion” with the Prime Minister about the plan, making it clear he does not believe the Government should be “paving the way” for a second referendum.


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