LONDON (AP) — A British government minister says Prime Minister Theresa May has told restive lawmakers she will step down as the Conservative Party’s leader before the next national election, due in 2022.
May addressed party backbenchers in private ahead of a no-confidence vote on her leadership taking place Wednesday evening.
Solicitor General Robert Buckland says May told them, “In my heart I would like to lead the party into the next election.”
Buckland called the statement “the introductory phrase to her indication that she would accept the fact that that would not happen, that is not her intention.”
A promise to make way for a new Conservative leader would be a way to win over wavering lawmakers ahead of the vote that could end her leadership.
May has not said what she will do if, as many expect, Britain’s Brexit crisis triggers an early election.
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