May under fresh pressure to step down as British PM

Theresa May has come under fresh pressure from within her own party to step down as British prime minister as it emerged yesterday that a former Conservative party chairman is leading an attempted coup against her

Theresa May has come under fresh pressure from within her own party to step down as British prime minister as it emerged yesterday that a former Conservative party chairman is leading an attempted coup against her.

Theresa May

Grant Shapps, co-chair of Britain's ruling Tory party between 2012 and 2015, claims having the backing of nearly 30 party MPs, including former Cabinet ministers.

He plans to spend the weekend taking that number up to the required 48 MPs to write to the chairman of the Conservative party's powerful 1922 Committee of backbench MPs to trigger a leadership contest within the party.

Grant Shapps. Pics/AFP

'I think it's time we actually tackle this issue of leadership and so do many colleagues. We wanted to present that to Theresa May privately. Now I'm afraid it's being done a bit more publicly," Shapps told the BBC.

May dismissed the brewing dissent as she told reporters that she had the "full support" of her Cabinet. "Now, what the country needs is calm leadership, and that's what I'm providing, with the full support of my cabinet," she said when asked about the efforts led by Shapps to gather sufficient support among Tory MPs to force a leadership contest.

48
No. of MPs needed for a leadership contest within the Conservative Party

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