(Bloomberg) -- Theresa May promised to resign as British prime minister if her Conservative Party colleagues drop their opposition to her Brexit strategy and vote to ratify her deal.
There were early signs that May’s dramatic gamble could pay off. Several pro-Brexit Tories -- including Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith -- told colleagues they will back down and support the divorce agreement, according to people familiar with the matter. The pound edged higher.
May has spent two years negotiating the deal, and it has been rejected twice by huge majorities in Parliament. If she succeeds in persuading a majority of members of Parliament to vote through her accord -- potentially as early as Friday -- it will represent one of the biggest political comebacks in recent British history.
It would end months of uncertainty about the prospect of a chaotic no-deal exit, which has hit business investment and left companies scrambling. It would usher in a smooth divorce and a two-year grace period, even as the details of Britain’s future relationship with Europe would still have to be thrashed out after a disruptive leadership race.
The price for May will be severe.
“I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party,” May told a packed meeting of Conservative MPs inside one of Parliament’s oak-paneled rooms.
“I ask everyone in this room to back the deal so we can complete our historic duty -- to deliver on the decision of the British people and leave the European Union with a smooth and orderly exit.”
According to people in the room, an emotional May made her pledge in an attempt to persuade Tories to vote for her agreement before it’s too late. The EU has set Britain a deadline of Friday to ratify the divorce agreement, so the country can then leave the bloc on the later-than-planned date of May 22.
If May can’t get her deal through a vote in the House of Commons by Friday, the U.K. will be forced to choose between a potentially long delay to its departure and falling out of the EU without a deal on April 12.
A no-deal Brexit threatens the kind of economic crash that would hit the pound, disrupt goods supplies and provoke a major slump in house prices, according to official analysis. May’s divorce agreement has been rejected twice in parliamentary votes — but there is almost no support for leaving without a deal.
That suggests the most likely outcome would be a long extension to the negotiations, potentially lasting more than a year, during which time pro-Brexit campaigners increasingly fear their dream of leaving the EU could be brought to a halt.
Many Conservatives had been privately calling for the prime minister to promise to go so a new leader can take over for the second phase of Brexit talks, which will focus on Britain’s future trade relationship with the EU.
After months of stinging criticism of her negotiating strategy, May said she understood her colleagues wanted a change. “I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party,” she said. “I know there is a desire for a new approach – and new leadership – in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations – and I won’t stand in the way of that.”
The party and the country can embark on a “new chapter and build that brighter future”, she said. “But before we can do that, we have to finish the job in hand.”
May made her announcement two hours before members of Parliament began voting on alternative Brexit blueprints to the deal she’s proposing.
There are eight options that MPs will choose from in a set of votes on Wednesday, ranging from keeping Britain inside the EU’s single market and customs union -- the “Norway plus” model -- to promising a new referendum to approve any deal that’s negotiated, to leaving without a deal.
The results are expected after 9:30 p.m. London time. If Parliament fails to produce a majority for an alternative way forward -- as expected -- May will have one more argument to present as she makes a final push for her deal.
--With assistance from Alex Morales.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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