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Members of a Conservative association in Wales have delivered a damaging blow to the Prime Minister that threatens to set off a wave of revolt across the party.

In a vote of no confidence on Wednesday night, Clwyd South Conservatives voted overwhelmingly that they had no confidence in Theresa May's leadership of the party.

The figures announced by chairman Gareth Baines were that 88.8% had no confidence in the Prime Minister, only 3.7% supported her leadership with 7.4% abstaining. There was no indication how many members the association has.

Clwyd South includes areas of Denbighshire and Wrexham including places like Ruabon, Chirk, Llangollen and Corwen. It is represented at Westminster by Labour MP Susan Jones who has an 11.6% majority over her Conservative rival.

The editor of Conservative Home, Mark Wallace, said on Twitter: "Open revolt like this is rare and a sign of how bad things have got. Will other associations follow suit?"

He described the vote by Clwyd South Tories as an "association deciding off its own bat to send a message of no confidence".

There can be no challenge to Theresa May as party leader under Conservative rules until December this year because of the failed bid to oust her backed by Jacob Rees-Mogg last December. The powerful body of backbench Tory MPs, the executive committee of the 1922 Committee, narrowly on Wednesday night rejected a bid to change those rules.

Some Tory MPs had called on the committee to change the grace period after a leadership challenge from 12 months to six months, however the 1922 executive committee narrowly rejected that amid anxiety from other Tory MPs about the consequences of removing Mrs May while Britain has yet to leave the EU.

That nine votes to two decision of the 1922 Committee means Mrs May remains as leader until December, however with activists fearing that the European elections and the local elections in England could be disastrous for the party, the pressure from Tory associations like Clwyd South may only grow.

(Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, an activist group, said: “No change will further alienate the parliamentary party from the grassroots.”

Speaking after Wednesday’s meeting, the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady said MPs could “write to me as chairman of the 1922 Committee raising concerns . . . about the leadership of the party, and that the strength of opinion would be communicated by me to the leader of the party should they decide to do so.”

Speaking before the vote in Clwyd South, association chairman Gareth Baines told BBC Wales that the disillusionment with Mrs May was for many reasons.

He said: "I don't think it's just the Brexit process, I genuinely think it's the prime minister in general.

"I don't think people think she's doing a great job, first and foremost of Brexit, and secondly of anything else.

"I think she's lost the trust of grassroots members and that's the worrying thing."

The Welsh Conservatives declined to comment.