Sajid Javid twisted the knife last night as Theresa May faced a fierce backlash from Tory MPs and activists after the party’s worst local election results in a quarter of a century.
In a nationwide bloodbath, the Tories exceeded even the worst predictions of how badly they might do at the polls. By 7pm last night, the party had lost more than 1,300 councillors and relinquished control of more than 40 councils, including in heartland areas such as Chelmsford, Guildford and Chichester.
It was the worst Tory performance since 1995 when – under John Major – the party lost more than 2,000 seats.
Theresa May at the Welsh Conservative party conference at Llangollen Pavilion, Llangollen following the voting in the English council elections
As the Tory civil war spilled out into the open, Cabinet ministers warned the Prime Minister she needed to deliver on her promise to take the country out of the EU – or lose power to Labour. Home Secretary Mr Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who all have their eyes on the leadership, each issued their demands for Mrs May to get on with Brexit.
Tory MPs said the results were ‘dreadful’ and warned the party was ‘haemorrhaging support’. Activists and councillors openly called for the Prime Minister to consider her position, saying they had been ‘given a kicking’ for something that was not their fault.
It means Mrs May is under huge pressure to deliver Brexit before the European Parliament elections later this month, where the party fears another disaster.
Mr Javid warned that the party would not be trusted by voters until the country had left the EU. Speaking at the Scottish Conservatives conference in Aberdeen, he said: ‘This morning, we all woke up to disappointing local election results in England.
‘And there’s no denying the European elections in a few weeks will be even more challenging – in every part of the UK.
‘We are not delivering on a promise at the heart of our last manifesto: That we would leave the European Union on March 29. So there’s an issue with trust.’
Sajid Javid called for an end to the infighting over Brexit, warning: ‘A divided party cannot unite a divided nation’
Mr Javid said the party had an underlying problem with some ethnic minority, young and working-class voters not believing it ‘shares their values and understands their needs’. He also called for an end to the infighting over Brexit, warning: ‘A divided party cannot unite a divided nation.’
Mr Javid warned that if Labour won the next general election – which ‘could well come before 2022’ – the Tories could be out of power for a generation.
Mr Hunt gave Mrs May only a lukewarm endorsement. Asked whether she was the right leader for now, he replied: ‘She is for now and I hope that she’s successful in delivering Brexit and I will certainly support her in doing so.’
Resign! Ex-Tory mayor heckles PM
Stuart Davies shouted: ‘Why don’t you resign’
Theresa May was heckled by a former Tory councillor yesterday.
At the Welsh Conservatives conference in Llangollen, Stuart Davies shouted: ‘Why don’t you resign… We don’t want you.’ The Prime Minister drew laughter as she said: ‘I have to say, my experience of North Wales is that everybody I meet here is friendly.’
Mr Davies, a former mayor of Llangollen, was escorted out. The 71-year-old said: ‘I am furious at what she has done to our party.’
Mr Davies, pictured, acted as Boris Johnson’s agent when he fought Clwyd South at the 1997 general election. He said his protest was ‘not about trying to get Johnson to replace May’.
He added: ‘The reason that I think that we’re having a tough time in the local elections [is] because both major parties promised at the last election to deliver Brexit. Both have failed and be it on our heads if we have another general election and we have not delivered the Brexit that we promised the British people we would.’
Mr Hancock called on the Tories to ‘pull together, draw a line under Brexit and start talking about the bright future for Britain beyond’.
On a devastating night, the Conservatives lost control of at least 45 councils. In Chelmsford, Tory MP Vicky Ford struggled to hold back tears in a television interview after the party lost 31 councillors.
One casualty was Chancellor Philip Hammond’s mother-in-law, Gillian Brown, the Tory leader of Arun Council in Sussex.
Conservative MP for Solihull, Julian Knight, said the Brexit effect was having a direct impact on the local elections, adding the message he was getting on the doorstep was that voters were ‘fed up’. He added: ‘People are angry about Brexit, turnout is very low in some wards. People are fed up and want politicians to get on and deliver Brexit.’
Tory MP Sir David Amess told the BBC: ‘The results are absolutely dreadful. Theresa has said that she will be leaving No 10 which made it very difficult because, obviously, you are talking to Conservative supporters and they are saying “who’s going to be the next leader? What on earth is going on?”
‘It is now up to the executive of the [1922 committee of Tory MPs] to deal with this matter immediately when Parliament returns on Tuesday. They must take action because we are haemorrhaging support.’ Sir Bernard Jenkin said voters thought the Prime Minister had ‘lost the plot’.
‘They can see she is not in control of events,’ he added.
‘Among Conservative activists and council candidates, there is an almost universal feeling that it is time for her to move on. If the Conservative Party doesn’t mend its ways pretty quickly, the Conservative Party is going to be toast.’ Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel said voters felt Mrs May was ‘part of the problem’, adding: ‘I don’t think we can continue like this.’
But education minister Nadhim Zahawi called on Tories to rally around the Prime Minister. He said: ‘Because we haven’t been able to deliver Brexit on March 29, we are seeing these results. The Prime Minister has stretched every sinew, she has tried everything. We can keep blaming the Prime Minister; ultimately it is in the hands of us parliamentarians.’
And Communities Secretary James Brokenshire rejected the idea that Mrs May should set a resignation date. He said: ‘The point is that by doing so you then get slap bang into a contest and taking all of the focus away from where it needs to be at this moment in time – which is the delivery of the Brexit result.’
Mrs May told the Welsh Conservatives conference in Llangollen that the results were ‘very difficult for our party’. She added: ‘There was a simple message to both us and the Labour Party – just get on and deliver Brexit.’