The Tory MP intends to use a speech from the backbenches to denounce Theresa May (pictured in China on January 31)
A senior minister is preparing to denounce Theresa May and resign in protest at her leadership, it was reported last night.
The Tory MP intends to use a speech from the backbenches to call for the party to adopt a new direction.
The minister is said to have been left frustrated by Mrs May’s botched reshuffle in the New Year, and the lack of younger MPs promoted to senior jobs.
A friend of the minister preparing to speak out told The Sun: ‘Many of us have made big sacrifices to be here.
‘His view is that there is point in making them if we’re going in wrong direction, and somebody has to do something about it.’
Mrs May, who touched down in China yesterday, issued a defiant response to critics who have questioned her future as Conservative leader, declaring: ‘I’m not a quitter.’
After a torrid week of Westminster speculation about possible challenges to her position, the Prime Minister insisted that she was getting on with the job of delivering on the real-life issues which matter to voters.
The minister is said to have been left frustrated by Mrs May’s botched reshuffle in the New Year. The PM is seen with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
Mrs May admitted that there was ‘always more for us to do’ on issues such as housing and schools and appeared to acknowledge that she had not done enough to get her message across to voters.
But, in a message apparently directed at grumbling Tory backbenchers, she said it was time for Conservatives to speak out more loudly about the Government’s achievements.
Asked by reporters travelling with her on a trade mission to China whether she expected to lead the Tories into the next election, Mrs May said: ‘First and foremost, I’m serving my country and my party. I’m not a quitter and there’s a long-term job to be done.
‘That job is about getting the best Brexit deal, it’s about ensuring that we take back control of our money, our laws, our borders, that we can sign trade deals around the rest of the world. But it’s also about our domestic agenda.’
Ex-Conservative MP-turned-Times columnist Matthew Parris urged Tory MPs to speak against Mrs May in an article on Saturday
Responding to former minister Robert Halfon’s suggestion that she had governed like a tortoise when a lion was needed, Mrs May retorted: ‘I have never tried to compare myself to any animal, or bird, or car, or whatever comparisons that sometimes people use.
‘There’s a focus to the Government. Yes, we want to get Brexit right and we are working on that, but we also alongside that are working on the key issues that matter to people on a day-to-day basis.’
Mrs May steered clear of direct criticism of backbenchers who have accused her of lacking drive and publicly described her agenda as ‘dull’.
But she pointedly added: ‘We need to ensure that we do speak about the achievements that we’ve seen.’
Ex-Conservative MP-turned-Times columnist Matthew Parris urged Tory MPs to speak against Mrs May in an article on Saturday.
Mr Parris wrote: ‘The power of a single speech, if timed at a critical point in politics, can be incalculable.
‘The time for that logjam-busting speech has come. Whether from a Remainer or a Leaver, the keynote is that this cannot go on.’