Theresa May faces down Tory critics and says she will remain as PM with 'full support' of Cabinet

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Theresa May came out fighting today after a former Tory party chairman called on her to resign and said Cabinet ministers also wanted her to go.

Grant Shapps claimed some 30 MPs, including five former Cabinet ministers, were part of the plot to oust the Prime Minister.

However, Mrs May hit back, insisting all the Cabinet were backing her despite her snap election disaster and mishaps during her party conference speech.

Visiting a charity event in her Maidenhead constituency, she said: “What the country needs is calm leadership and that is what I’m providing with the full support of my Cabinet.

“Next week I will be updating MPs on my Florence speech which has given real momentum to the Brexit talks and I will also be introducing a draft bill to cap energy prices which will stop ordinary, working families from being ripped off.”

However, there was fresh controversy this morning after it was claimed that Beijing had delayed a planned visit by the Prime Minister to China as a trip by Donald Trump was being given precedence.

Downing Street flatly denied the report, with a spokesman saying: “This is nonsense. No 10 has neither organised nor publicised any such trip.”

It is understood that British officials put forward some trip dates for this autumn but these are said to have clashed with the visit by the US president.

However, it was at home that Mrs May faced the threat of a revolt which was being described as a “kamikaze” attempt to destabilise her.

In a series of dramatic media interviews this morning, Mr Shapps claimed that one or two Cabinet ministers agreed with him that Mrs May should stand down. He also accused party whips of leaking his name to out the plotters — in a high-stakes gamble to scupper the move against the Prime Minister — and said that five former Cabinet ministers were considering going to Mrs May to privately urge her to stand down.

He claimed Tory chiefs had asked him before the party’s annual conference in Manchester not to act against Mrs May.

Mr Shapps said: “We can’t just carry on when things are not working out. The solution isn’t to bury our heads in the sand and just hope things will get better.

“It never worked out for Brown or Major and I don’t think it is going to work out here either.”

Cabinet ministers, including Michael Gove and Amber Rudd, and many MPs rallied around Mrs May as she faced the revolt from both sides of the Brexit debate.

It was not yet clear how many more rebels would join Mr Shapps in going public to call for the Prime Minister to fall on her sword. However, another former Cabinet minister said: “People are very worried.

“There is an awful lot of personal sympathy for her but that is tempered with a feeling that we simply can’t carry on like this.”

Another senior Tory MP said: “She has probably got one more crisis to finish her off. She is fatally wounded and has lost all authority. She should go.”

Mr Shapps described Mrs May as a “very decent woman” and praised her for the start of her premiership. “But the truth is we have fought and ended up in a bad position after the election and it leads to damaged leadership,” he added, referring to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson laying down his personal red lines on Brexit.

“We have spoken to people from the Cabinet and one or two privately agree.”

However, Environment Secretary Mr Gove, who torpedoed Mr Johnson’s leadership bid last year, came to Mrs May’s defence.

He claimed that the “overwhelming majority” of Tory MPs — including the “entirety” of the Cabinet — wanted her to carry on.

“She showed an amazing degree of resilience and courage this week,” he added, after comedian Simon Brodkin breached security to hand Mrs May a mock P45 at the start of her conference speech, which was then interrupted by her coughing fits.

Home Secretary Mrs Rudd also went on the offensive to protect Mrs May and Charles Walker, vice-chairman of the powerful Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, said the attempt to force her out lacked credibility and was set to fail.

“Grant has many talents but the one thing he doesn’t have is a following in the party. I really think this is now just going to fizzle out,” Mr Walker added.

Forty-eight MPs are needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in Mrs May, although Mr Shapps made it clear that the plotters thought that even 30 rebels might have forced her hand.

The political uncertainty around Westminster saw sterling fall 0.34 per cent against the dollar to $1.307 mid-morning and by 0.25 per cent against the euro to €1.117 ahead of the next round of Brexit talks.

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