Seven Conservatives Plot to Oust May as Premier Defends EU Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Seven leading Conservatives, including Boris Johnson, David Davis and Dominic Raab, are actively preparing campaigns to challenge Theresa May’s premiership, the Sunday Times said, as the premier declared “no alternative” to her Brexit deal in a column for the Sun.

• May’s office is on standby for a vote of no confidence in the prime minister as early as Tuesday, the Times said without saying where it got the information. As of Friday night, rebels seeking to oust May lacked the 48 lawmakers’ letters needed to trigger a contest.
• But a ComRes poll for the Sunday Mirror suggests that grass roots Conservatives are happy for May to stay on in Downing Street. Seven in every 10 Tory voters want her to remain in the post.
• The Times reported that Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the U.K. House of Commons, will hold a meeting on Monday with Liam Fox, Chris Grayling, Penny Mordaunt and Michael Gove to draw up a rival plan to May’s Brexit deal. Leadsom told Sky earlier she’s "absolutely determined" to stay in the government to help the PM get a Brexit agreement.
• Writing in The Sun, May said there’s “no alternative plan on the table” to her deal with the EU, and rejection by parliament risks sending Britain “back to square one with all the division and uncertainty that comes with it.”
• And also on the front page of the Times: A team of army planners has started drawing up emergency measures to deploy troops in the event of any chaos caused by Britain crashing out of the bloc.

--With assistance from Sebastian Tong.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in London at jludden@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey

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