By Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Luke McGee and Rob Picheta, CNN
Several potential challengers to Theresa May pledged Wednesday morning to back her in the leadership contest coming later Wednesday, including Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has so far been conspicuously -- and unusually -- silent.
Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 committee – a group that represents the interests of Conservative lawmakers – told Theresa May last night that he had received enough letters from Conservative Party MPs to force her to face a leadership vote, he said on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme Wednesday morning.
He refused to say how many letters he had received.
He phoned her to deliver the news, he said. He refused to say how she had reacted, other than to say that she was eager for the process to be completed as quickly as possible. Brady specified that he wanted the announcement of the challenge made before markets opened.
She will address Conservative lawmakers at 5:00 p.m. GMT (noon ET) in a committee room at Parliament, followed by voting between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. and 3 p.m.).
May needs a simple majority of Conservative MPs to survive the vote. There are 315 Conservative MPs, so a majority is 158.
Brady refused to be drawn on what May should do if she survives the vote, but only narrowly.
If she wins, she cannot be challenged for a year, under party rules.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has confirmed she will fight on despite facing a vote of no confidence from her own Members of Parliament on Wednesday.
A defiant May took to the podium outside Downing House and said:
I will contest that vote with everything I’ve got. I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 40 years. I’ve served it as an activist, counsellor, MP, shadow minister, Home Secretary and now as Prime Minister. I stood to be leader because I believe in the conservative vision for a better future.
May added that now was not the time for a leadership battle, adding that one would "put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it."
"The new leader wouldn’t have time to renegotiate a withdrawal agreement and get the legislation through parliament by the 29th of March, so one of their first acts would have to be extending or rescinding Article 50, delaying or even stopping Brexit when people want us to get on with it," she said.
