British prime minister Theresa May under fire: Faces vote of no-confidence over BREXIT

The British pound, which has lost 25 cents against the U.S. dollar since the 2016 referendum, fell on the confidence vote but then rose to 1.2528 on news Brexit might have to be delayed.

“SHE MUST GO”

May, a vicar’s daughter who voted to remain in the EU, won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 EU referendum but promised to implement Brexit, while keeping close ties to the bloc, as a way to heal a divided nation.

Widely praised for a punishing work ethic and a dutiful approach to solving the Brexit divide, May’s premiership has been characterised by obduracy in the face of frequent crises.

Ever since formally triggering the Brexit divorce in March 2017, May has tried to find a way to keep Britain closely aligned with the EU after its exit – the essence of the divorce deal struck with Brussels last month.

But on Monday she abruptly pulled a parliamentary vote on her deal in the face of ridicule from lawmakers. She then rushed to Europe to seek assurances from EU leaders about the deal.

The EU has insisted it will not re-negotiate but some of the bloc’s leaders have suggested Britain could still change its mind on leaving.

Brexit-supporting lawmakers in her party have accused May of betraying the people’s vote in negotiations while opponents say she has negotiated a deal that is the worst of all worlds – out of the EU but with no say over many rules it has to abide by.

Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative Party’s so-called 1922 committee, said the threshold of 15 percent of the parliamentary party seeking a confidence vote had been exceeded meaning a vote would be held on Wednesday.

“Theresa May’s plan would bring down the government if carried forward,” lawmakers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker said in a statement.

“But our Party will rightly not tolerate it. Conservatives must now answer whether they wish to draw ever closer to an election under Mrs May’s leadership. In the national interest, she must go.”

SCHISM IN THE UK

A schism over Europe in the Conservative Party over Britain’s relationship with the EU contributed to the fall of all three previous Conservative premiers – David Cameron, John Major and Margaret Thatcher.

Cameron bet all on a referendum he lost in 2016.

Now, May – whose personal standing was weakened when she called a snap election last year which cost her a parliamentary majority – is telling her opponents that if she goes, Brexit will be delayed, or even cancelled.

Senior ministers including Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Sajid Javid expressed support for May. They warned that changing leader at such an important moment in British history was folly.

But as investors and company bosses tried to gauge the ultimate outcome of the political crisis, some were betting that Brexit would be thwarted.

The EU’s top court ruled on Monday that Britain could cancel its official Article 50 notice to leave the bloc without permission from other members and without losing special privileges.

Both May’s ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party are publicly committed to carrying out Brexit.

A no-deal Brexit, though, is seen as so disruptive to trade and the economy that parliament would be under pressure to block it.

“I am backing the Prime Minister 100 percent,” said Gove, the most senior Brexiteer in May’s government. “She is battling hard for our country and no one is better placed to ensure we deliver on the British people’s decision to leave the EU.”