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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/28/theresa-may-indicates-she-would-fight-a-boris-johnson-leadership-bid
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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Theresa May indicates she would fight a Boris Johnson leadership bid | Theresa May indicates she would fight a Boris Johnson leadership bid |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Theresa May indicated she would seek to fight off any leadership challenge from Boris Johnson and suggested she would lead the Conservatives into the next general election as she repeated a promise to lead the party “for the long term”. | Theresa May indicated she would seek to fight off any leadership challenge from Boris Johnson and suggested she would lead the Conservatives into the next general election as she repeated a promise to lead the party “for the long term”. |
| The prime minister said she was in politics “to deliver for the British people” and told journalists on a trip to Africa she would highlight housing, healthcare and other non-Brexit domestic issues in a relaunch at next month’s party conference in Birmingham. | The prime minister said she was in politics “to deliver for the British people” and told journalists on a trip to Africa she would highlight housing, healthcare and other non-Brexit domestic issues in a relaunch at next month’s party conference in Birmingham. |
| When asked specifically if she would contest a leadership challenge from Johnson, the former foreign secretary, May said she hoped to fight on as prime minister: “I am in this for the long term. I am in this for delivering for the British people, and that’s what I’m focused on.” | When asked specifically if she would contest a leadership challenge from Johnson, the former foreign secretary, May said she hoped to fight on as prime minister: “I am in this for the long term. I am in this for delivering for the British people, and that’s what I’m focused on.” |
| She appeared to suggest in a television interview that she was relieved that Johnson had resigned from the government. When asked if she had noticed how much Johnson appeared to want her job, May told ITV: “I was very pleased Boris was foreign secretary for the period that he was foreign secretary.” | She appeared to suggest in a television interview that she was relieved that Johnson had resigned from the government. When asked if she had noticed how much Johnson appeared to want her job, May told ITV: “I was very pleased Boris was foreign secretary for the period that he was foreign secretary.” |
| Johnson remains a serious threat to May at a time when much of the party’s grassroots is unhappy with her Chequers Brexit proposals, a negotiating plan that led to his resignation from the cabinet and claiming that Britain would be “reduced to the status of a colony” if it was adopted. | Johnson remains a serious threat to May at a time when much of the party’s grassroots is unhappy with her Chequers Brexit proposals, a negotiating plan that led to his resignation from the cabinet and claiming that Britain would be “reduced to the status of a colony” if it was adopted. |
| May has to face her party’s annual conference in September at a time when she is under pressure to demonstrate she can make progress in the Brexit negotiations and show she has the energy to take the Conservatives forward after March 2019. | May has to face her party’s annual conference in September at a time when she is under pressure to demonstrate she can make progress in the Brexit negotiations and show she has the energy to take the Conservatives forward after March 2019. |
| The prime minister said she would focus on “the domestic agenda” at the event in Birmingham and singled out policies “to actively increase housebuilding so young people have an opportunity to get their feet on to the housing ladder, when so many fear they are not going to be able to do that”. | The prime minister said she would focus on “the domestic agenda” at the event in Birmingham and singled out policies “to actively increase housebuilding so young people have an opportunity to get their feet on to the housing ladder, when so many fear they are not going to be able to do that”. |
| She said she wanted to showcase “what we’re doing in technical education to improve opportunities for young people” and “a sustainable 10-year plan from the NHS to deliver better outcomes for patients” after she agreed to boost its finances by £20.5bn a year by 2023-24. | She said she wanted to showcase “what we’re doing in technical education to improve opportunities for young people” and “a sustainable 10-year plan from the NHS to deliver better outcomes for patients” after she agreed to boost its finances by £20.5bn a year by 2023-24. |
| A year ago, May was forced to endure a disastrous conference in which she struggled to deliver her keynote speech because of a persistent cough, raising the stakes at this year’s event, which is likely to be dominated by comparisons of her performance with Johnson, a popular draw with activists at the party’s fringe. | A year ago, May was forced to endure a disastrous conference in which she struggled to deliver her keynote speech because of a persistent cough, raising the stakes at this year’s event, which is likely to be dominated by comparisons of her performance with Johnson, a popular draw with activists at the party’s fringe. |
| Under Conservative party rules, May would face a vote of no confidence if at least 48 of her MPs - 15% of the parliamentary party - demand one, by writing a letter to the chair of the powerful 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady. | |
| These latest comments suggest she would contest such a vote. If she won, she could not then be challenged for another 12 months but, if she lost, she would be barred from standing in the subsequent leadership contest. | |
| Few at Westminster expect the prime minister to remain in power much after next March, when Britain is due to leave the European Union. “This is not what the country or the party needs or wants, and it will go down badly on the backbenches”, said one Tory MP. | |
| May sought to appeal to the party’s right on her first day in Africa by downplaying a controversial warning made by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, last week that a no-deal Brexit would cost £80bn in extra borrowing and inhibit long-term economic growth. | |
| A no-deal Brexit “wouldn’t be the end of the world”, she said, arguing that the UK could make an economic success of the unprecedented situation if it proved impossible to negotiate a satisfactory divorce. | A no-deal Brexit “wouldn’t be the end of the world”, she said, arguing that the UK could make an economic success of the unprecedented situation if it proved impossible to negotiate a satisfactory divorce. |
| Speaking to reporters as she began her three-day trip to Africa, May cited and endorsed remarks about the Brexit situation made last week by Roberto Azevêdo, the director general of the World Trade Organization, to justify a gentle rebuke of the chancellor. | Speaking to reporters as she began her three-day trip to Africa, May cited and endorsed remarks about the Brexit situation made last week by Roberto Azevêdo, the director general of the World Trade Organization, to justify a gentle rebuke of the chancellor. |
| She said: “Look at what the director general has said. He has said about the no-deal situation that it will not be a walk in the park, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.” | She said: “Look at what the director general has said. He has said about the no-deal situation that it will not be a walk in the park, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.” |
| She voiced her own reservations about the Treasury forecasts, saying she believed the chancellor was talking about figures dating back to January, adding: “They were a work in progress at that particular time.” | She voiced her own reservations about the Treasury forecasts, saying she believed the chancellor was talking about figures dating back to January, adding: “They were a work in progress at that particular time.” |
| May also spelled out how she hoped to change Britain’s overseas aid priorities, during a keynote speech in Cape Town. She pledged to maintain the UK’s spending at 0.7% of GDP but vowed to reorient it to crack down on illegal migration and support fragile states in the continent. | |
| She said she wanted the UK to do more to help west African countries such as Mali, Chad and Niger, which have been “waging a battle against terrorism”. | |
| May added that she wanted Britain to use its aid programme “to support a major new crack down on illicit finance and organised crime, deploying expertise in financial centres around the world” – and to counter “illegal migration, modern slavery and trafficking in people”. | May added that she wanted Britain to use its aid programme “to support a major new crack down on illicit finance and organised crime, deploying expertise in financial centres around the world” – and to counter “illegal migration, modern slavery and trafficking in people”. |
| On Wednesday, May will visit Nigeria, before moving in to Kenya on Thursday, where she will meet the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and see British soldiers demonstrate their cooperation with military forces in the country in countering al-Shabaab, the Islamist terror group that is based in Somalia. | |
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