May to Stay in Office Until Autumn Amid Rumours of Looming Tory Coup - Reports

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to remain in office until the Conservative conference in September after setting a summer deadline to finalise Brexit talks, The Times reported.

READ MORE: May Faces Coup in Her Party Over Agreeing on Brexit Deal With Labour — Reports

On Tuesday, Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers Graham Brady urged the prime minister to pick a resignation date before the House of Commons summer recess in July. No. 10, however, said that it was working on a new deadline to break the Brexit deadlock, which implies that May is required to hold her office for up to four more months, the media outlet reported.

According to The Times, if the prime minister fails to announce her intention to step down until mid-July, Tory lawmakers will be unable to finish voting on leadership candidates until they return to the House of Commons in September.

Such a delay, the paper notes, is likely to spark indignation among Tories as the 1922 Committee is reportedly meeting later in the day to decide on whether to change the party rules in a bid to force out May. Under existing rules, she cannot face another no-confidence vote until December, a year after she survived the first attempt.

While Tory lawmakers cannot hold another no-confidence motion, May will face an extraordinary grassroot activists' vote on her future on 15 June. Even though it's non-binding, losing it would put more pressure on the prime minister to stand down.

READ MORE: Conservative MPs Secretly Plotting to Remove Theresa May as PM — Report

According to the Evening Standard, a senior supporter of May said that "any attempt" to alter the party rules would be "subject to a legal challenge".

Earlier this week, there was some speculation that fellow Tories are frustrated with May's reported plans to form an alliance with the Labour Party to avoid partaking in the European Parliament elections, set for 23-26 May. The Daily Telegraph reported that in this case, Conservative lawmakers will "move to oust" May, and she's allegedly been warned about it.

In March, Theresa May pledged to resign if Tories back the Brexit withdrawal agreement she negotiated with the European Union. She stressed that she was aware that the MPs didn't want her to remain at the helm during the next phase of Brexit talks, and she didn't want to "stand in the way of that".

The UK was supposed to leave the EU on 29 March, but the PM was unable to gain support from British lawmakers for her agreement, which prompted her to request a deadline extension until 31 October.

In exchange, Brussels insisted that London must hold elections to the European Parliament in May, or leave the bloc on 1 June without a deal.