Tory leadership race: May warns Brexit rebels not to let Corbyn into No 10
The PM, on the way to her last world summit, urges whoever is the new leader to seek a majority rather than ignore parliament.
Thursday 27 June 2019 17:10, UK
Theresa May has warned Conservative colleagues not to bring down her successor's government and let Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street.
The comments come after several prominent Conservatives said they would consider voting against their own government in a vote of no confidence to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
"I believe that there should be a Conservative government in the United Kingdom because a Conservative government is better for the people of the United Kingdom," she told reporters on a plane to the G20 summit in Japan.
"And if Jeremy Corbyn were prime minister then we would see a run on the pound, capital flight, we would see jobs lost, we would see less money on public services," she added.
Her intervention follows warnings from Conservatives, including defence minister Tobias Ellwood, that a sufficient number of MPs might be prepared to bring down a Johnson or Hunt government should it contemplate leaving the European Union without a deal.
But Mrs May also seemed to warn against any effort to bring about Brexit without the approval of parliament after suggestions from some of her party that MPs could be bypassed if necessary to make sure the UK leaves the EU by the end of October.
Asked about whether parliament could be prorogued, she replied: "It will be up to my successor to find a majority in parliament that I was not able to find on this issue."
Mrs May said she intends to run for re-election as an MP in the next election but would not be drawn on her plans beyond that.
She seemed focused on the geopolitical issues dominating the G20 summit, her last on the world stage.
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Aides say she will be stressing the importance of international cooperation and the institutions that depend on it, including the G20 herself.
Among her aims are trying to push other G20 nations to adopt a 2050 target for going carbon neutral, as the UK has just approved into law.
Throughout her time in office, she has had to deal with an American president who prefers economic nationalism over cooperation and who has undermined NATO, the EU and the G20, say his critics.
She will also sit down with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed by Western intelligence agencies and diplomats to have ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country's consulate in Istanbul.
A recent investigation by a UN special rapporteur on human rights concluded the assassination was state-sponsored and breached the Vienna Convention on diplomatic immunity.