Theresa May hopes to seal Brexit deal, stay as PM until 2021: Report

British Prime Minister Theresa May's allies are making plans that would keep her in office for more than two years after Brexit, the Sunday Times reported, citing a senior cabinet minister it didn't name. The plans being floated would allow May to hang on to power until autumn 2021, when she would be replaced by a new Conservative party leader less than a year before the next scheduled general election in 2022, according to the report.

The plan - developed as optimism grows that May will win support for a Brexit withdrawal bill had been discussed with leading party figures, possibly including May, the loyalist said. The move would allow May to carry out at least two more Cabinet reshuffles before leaving Downing Street, the report said.

The first, expected shortly after the U.K. leaves the European Union in March, would let her promote a new generation of cabinet ministers, according to the Sunday Times. Chancellor Philip Hammond, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Business Secretary Greg Clark could all be axed to make way for fresh talent and a younger cabinet, with the majority then being aged under 50, it said.


May's supporters are encouraged by what they believe to be a substantial shift in political arithmetic in the Commons, the newspaper said. Her allies report a rise in the number of lawmakers ready to back May's withdrawal agreement, according to the Times. Before Parliament began its Christmas break last week, opposition to the bill appeared to doom the measure to defeat.