Yahoo News Sajid Javid 'poised to launch leadership bid' if Theresa May's Brexit deal fails
Sajid Javid is preparing to launch a leadership bid if Theresa May’s Brexit deal is voted down by MPs.
The Home Secretary has been canvassing for support among fellow ministers for the last two weeks, sources told The Sun.
MPs will vote on the deal the Prime Minister negotiated with the EU on Tuesday, with a humiliating defeat looking likely.
If Mrs May is defeated she could be forced from office by her own party, or could cave into mounting pressure to resign over her botched handling of the Brexit negotiations.
Mr Javid has told colleagues that Mrs May’s deal is ‘s**t’ and that he is poised to put himself forward as leader as soon as she is forced from office, according to a senior Tory source.
The former banker, who backed Remain in the EU referendum, is thought to be considering an alliance with Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom to improve his standing among Eurosceptics.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson repeatedly failed to rule out a leadership bid during an interview yesterday.
Mr Johnson called rumours he has already started offering ministerial jobs to fellow Tories ‘nonsense’, but refused to give a ‘categorical promise’ he would not run for leader when pushed to do so by the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
Laying the foundations for a possible campaign, Mr Johnson outlined a plan to return to Brussels and reopen negotiations – something that the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has repeatedly said he will not consider.
Michael Gove also stopped short of ruling out a leadership bid in an interview today, saying only it was ‘extremely unlikely’ he would put himself forward for the top job.
In his latest effort to drum up support for the Prime Minister’s deal, he told the Today programme that Mrs May could ‘absolutely’ win the vote on Tuesday.
This generous assertion is at odds with the predictions for the result of the ‘meaningful vote’ on the deal, which looks likely to be disastrous for Mrs May.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay quashed rumours the vote would be postponed to avoid a humiliation, saying it was ‘100% happening’.
