May MELTDOWN: PM could destroy party if she doesn't quit, top Brexit campaigner warns
THE Conservative Party could be finished unless Theresa May is removed as leader within two weeks, according to Tory MEP and leading Brexit campaigner Daniel Hannan.
Mr Hannan argued Conservative MPs need to replace their leader before the European Parliament elections on May 23. His comments come after a shock General Election poll put the Tories behind the Brexit Party for the first time. Another poll put the Conservatives in fourth for the European Parliament elections.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph Mr Hannan commented: “I hope Conservative MPs, especially those who sit in Cabinet or on the 1922 Executive, understand the magnitude of what is at stake.
“Giving the Prime Minister another two weeks may seem like a compromise.
“But those two extra weeks could mean the end of the Conservative Party after 200 years.”
A poll conducted for Eurosceptic campaign group Brexit Express, and published in the Sunday Telegraph, put the Brexit Party ahead of the Conservatives in a General Election for the first time.
READ MORE: Brexit BOMBSHELL - New poll puts Brexit Party AHEAD of Conservatives
The incendiary survey put the Brexit Party on 20 percent of the vote, versus just 19 percent for the Tories.
Labour would win the election, with 27 percent of the vote, allowing them to form a minority government.
According to the poll a number of leading Conservatives, including former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, would lose their seats.
Mr Hannan was clear that Mrs May is responsible for the Tories current difficulties.
READ MORE: Brexiteer reveals what Theresa May 'brought to LIFE' that may END her
He asked: “What, then, is the Tories’ problem?
“I don’t want to seem ungallant but there is a two-word answer: Theresa May.
“Stiff, repetitive, unable to vary her script, she has come, in the minds of many former Conservative voters, to symbolise a party that won’t listen”.
Mrs May has promised to stand down before the “next stage” of the Brexit process, but has so far refused to name a date.