30 MPs planning to oust Theresa May

Theresa May has come under fresh pressure from within her own party to step down as British Prime Minister as it emerged on Friday that a former Conservative party chairman is leading an attempted coup against her. 

Grant Shapps, co-chair of the ruling Tory party between 2012 and 2015, claims having the backing of nearly 30 party MPs — including former Cabinet ministers. He plans to spend the weekend taking that number up to the required 48 MPs to write to the chairman of the Conservative Party’s powerful 1922 committee of backbench MPs to trigger a leadership contest within the party. 

“I think it’s time we actually tackled this issue of leadership and so do many colleagues. We wanted to present that to Ms May privately. Now I’m afraid it’s being done a bit more publicly,” Mr Shapps told the BBC.