Theresa May tried to face down renewed calls for her resignation by insisting the Tories’ disastrous local election results were not her fault.
The prime minister was challenged in the Commons on Wednesday to “step aside” after the Conservatives lost almost 1,300 town hall seats in the local elections last week.
Staunch Eurosceptic Andrea Jenkyns said the public no longer trusted the PM to deliver Brexit and she should “let someone new lead our party”.
But May, who has told Tory backbenchers she will vacate Number 10 once a withdrawal agreement was passed, appeared to blame those who rejected her unpopular Brexit deal.
“She has tried her best,” Jenkyns said, speaking during prime minister’s questions. “Nobody could fault or doubt her commitment and sense of duty, but she has failed.
“She has failed to deliver on her promises. We have lost 1,300 hard-working councillors and sadly the public no longer trust her to run the Brexit negotiations.
“Isn’t it time to step aside and let someone new lead our party, our country and the negotiations.”
May replied to say she was sorry that Conservative councillors had been ousted, adding it was “very often for no fault of their own”.
In a bid to slap down the Morley and Outwood MP, May pointed out she had served as a councillor before being elected as an MP.
She said: “I have also been a councillor who has stood in an election against a difficult national background under a Conservative government, so I know what that feels like as well.”
She added: “Can I also say to my right honourable friend actually this is not an issue about me and it isn’t an issue about her. If it were an issue about me how I vote we would already have left the European Union.”
The 1922 committee of backbench Tories are weighing up whether to change the rules to allow MPs to get rid of May before December. As it stands, having won a confidence vote in December, May cannot face a challenge for another 12 months.
A number of leading Tories who hope to succeed May have also begun to set out their stall.
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab gave a wide-ranging interview to the Sunday Times, while foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and recently-promoted international development secretary Rory Stewart have indicated they could run.
Leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson’s register of interests also showed last week that he has raked in £160,000 in donations and speaking fees, suggesting he is building a leadership campaign war chest.