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LONDON. – UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership later on Wednesday. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, May said: “I will contest that vote with everything I have got.”

She said a new prime minister would have to scrap or extend Article 50, the mechanism taking Britain out of the EU on 29 March, “delaying or even stopping Brexit”.

Conservative MPs will vote from 18:00 GMT to 20:00 GMT. A result is expected fairly quickly after the voting finishes.

The BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said a delay to Brexit was “a vital part of the case the prime minister’s supporters will be making” as she faces the confidence vote. May said changing Conservative leader would “put our country’s future at risk and create uncertainty when we can least afford it”.

Immediate statements of loyalty for the prime minister were issued by every member of her cabinet, including several who have been touted as possible successors.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said May was “the best person to make sure we actually leave the EU on March 29”, while Home Secretary Sajid Javid said a leadership contest would be seen as “self-indulgent and wrong”.

So far, 158 Tory MPs have publicly said they will vote for her, with 33 against, according to BBC research. She needs to secure the votes of 158 MPs to survive.

But it is a secret ballot so the final outcome is hard to predict. If May wins the confidence vote she cannot be challenged as Conservative leader for at least another year.

If she does not win the vote there would then be a Conservative leadership contest in which she could not stand.

If Mrs May won – but not overwhelmingly – she may decide to stand down as party leader and trigger a leadership contest in which she could not stand.

In her statement delivered early on Wednesday morning, May said: “A leadership election would not change the fundamentals of the negotiation or the Parliamentary arithmetic.

“Weeks spent tearing ourselves apart will only create more division just as we should be standing together to serve our country. None of that would be in the national interest.”

She said she was making progress in her talks with EU leaders and vowed to “deliver on the referendum vote and seize the opportunities that lie ahead”.

The Conservatives had to build a “country that works for everyone” and deliver “the Brexit people voted for”.

“I have devoted myself unsparingly to these tasks ever since I became prime minister and I stand ready to finish the job.”

Not immediately. She would be expected to stay on as a caretaker prime minister until a new Conservative leader is selected by the party, a process that could take up to six weeks.

If there are multiple candidates, Conservative MPs hold a series of votes to choose two to go forward to a vote of party members.

As leader of the largest party in the Commons, the new Conservative leader would then be expected to be asked to form a government and become prime minister, without a general election.

Analysis

By BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg

The prime minister that promised she would be strong and stable is instead at the top of a party that looks weak and chaotic at a vital time.

She’s in this position, her critics say, because of the choices and missteps she has made.

But her supporters would say it was because for some people in the Tory party who have had years of fury about Europe, nothing would ever have been good enough.

One of her cabinet colleagues is predicting a “long day” but a “solid win”. Let’s see.

What does it mean for Brexit?

In the short term it means May has had to call off talks with other EU leaders – including Irish premier Leo Varadkar – to fight for her leadership.

She had meetings on Tuesday with Germany’s Angela Merkel and top EU officials as part of efforts to get changes to her EU deal to get it through the UK Parliament.

If she is ousted as Tory leader later she could still attend Thursday’s EU summit as prime minister, but her deal would effectively be seen as dead.

May says any new Conservative leader would have to delay Brexit to renegotiate a deal with the EU.

But many of those calling for her to go say they would be happy for the UK to leave the EU on World Trade Organisation terms, without a deal. They say warnings of economic doom are exaggerated.

May says a leadership contest will effectively hand control the Brexit process to MPs, and with no majority in Parliament for a no-deal Brexit other options could emerge.

Some MPs are pushing for a Norway-style relationship with the EU, much closer than the one proposed by Mrs May.

Others are calling for a further referendum, with the option to stay in the EU on the ballot paper. – BBC

The challenge has been brought by Conservative MPs who think Mrs May has watered down the Brexit voters were promised in the 2016 referendum.

The PM thought she had seen off an attempt by this group of Brexiteers to get rid of her last month.

But her decision to cancel Tuesday’s Parliamentary vote on her deal at the last minute proved to be the final straw for many who had previously given her the benefit of the doubt.

There needed to be 48 MPs calling for her to go – out of 315 Conservative MPs – to trigger a confidence vote and this threshold has now been reached.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has led backbench calls for her to go, said: “Theresa May’s plan would bring down the government if carried forward. But our party will rightly not tolerate it.

“Conservatives must now answer whether they wish to draw ever closer to an election under Mrs May’s leadership. In the national interest, she must go.”

Why are they trying to get rid of her?

They don’t like the deal she has struck with the EU, which they say will keep the UK tied to the EU indefinitely with no say over its rules and unable to strike trade deals around the world.

Anger has focused on the so-called “backstop” to prevent the return of a physical border in Northern Ireland.

Mrs May has said she is seeking guarantees that this clause will be “temporary” but the Democratic Unionist Party, which she relies on to win key votes, wants the backstop to be ditched altogether.

And her Conservative critics think she will not be able to get anything more than cosmetic changes to her withdrawal deal because EU leaders say it can not be renegotiated.

Who are the frontrunners to lead the party if she loses?

There are many names being floated, with Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd among cabinet ministers rated by the bookmakers.

Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis are the ex-cabinet ministers also judged to be in the running.

But, as BBC Political editor Laura Kuenssberg says, the field of hopefuls could be much larger and, initially at least, resemble the start of a Grand National.

What is Labour saying?

Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery said: “Theresa May’s weakness and failure has completely immobilised the government at this critical time for the country.”

He added that the Conservative Party’s “internal divisions are putting people’s jobs and living standards at risk”.

Labour is under pressure from other opposition parties to hold a vote of no confidence in the government in Parliament, which unlike a Tory leadership contest could lead to a general election.

But the Labour leadership has so far resisted these calls – saying that although it wants rid of the government it wants to wait until such a vote has a chance of succeeding.