It has been confirmed that the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, will face a vote of confidence from her own party later today, Wednesday, December 12.
This is after members of parliament (MPs) for the Conservative Party sent letters calling for a vote, which is enough, under the party’s rules, to trigger a ballot of members.
The threshold required to call the vote was 15% of the party’s members in the House of Commons – which is equal to 48 members – and that number has been exceeded.
This was confirmed by Graham Brady, an MP and member of the Conservative Party’s ‘1922 Committee’, a body representing backbench politicians in the party.
Brady indicated that a ballot of party members will take place between 6:00pm and 8:00pm today, December 12.
After that vote, the votes will be immediately counted, and the result announced shortly afterwards.
This development comes at the end of a torrid three days for May.
The threshold of 15% of the parliamentary party seeking a vote of confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party has been exceeded.
On Monday, she was forced to cancel a vote in parliament on the Brexit withdrawal agreement she negotiated with the EU.
May said she cancelled the vote because she did not have the support, both in her own party and in others parties, to have the agreement accepted.
She spent yesterday, Tuesday, meeting other European leaders, and was due to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar later today.
It is uncertain if the meeting with Varadkar will now go ahead.
