WATCH: IDS tells Tory plotters to 'shut up, for God's sake'

John Ashmore

Iain Duncan Smith has told Conservative colleagues discussing Theresa May's future to "shut up" and get on with seeing through Brexit.



The former Tory leader said most of his fellow backbenchers were not interested in trying to oust the Prime Minister, who has all-but admitted she will not lead the party into the next general election.

Reports yesterday suggested that some MPs were planning to try and get rid of Mrs May in the weeks after the party's conference at the start of October.

Mr Duncan Smith said he would "lay money" that there would not be a leadership election, and he urged other Conservatives to stop speculating.

He told the Andrew Marr Show this morning: "The honest truth about all this...there's a big divide in the Conservative party at the moment on another level and it's between some of them in the Cabinet, it appears and the rest of the backbenchers because it's quite interesting that a lot of the new gen and everything else come in are absolutely seethingly furious about what this is rep at the moment.

"Their view is they want Theresa to get through, get through the Brexit stuff she's already said at some point she'll then step down and their view is 'none of the above'. At some point maybe somebody else will step through."

Reflecting on his own experience at the top of the party, Mr Duncan Smith said he did not see any sign that the back benches were minded to rebel against the leadership.

"There's not going to be a leadership election, I absolutely promise you, lay money on that - because there's no mood in the Conservative party for a leadership election, they know what the problem is.

"There's an unusual thing happening at the moment, it's called Brexit and it has a timetable to it and you cannot afford that timetable to be broken into by a Conservative leadership election. So we have to ge through that first and foremost, so there's a chance here to do their jobs."

Asked about the prospect of a challenge to Mrs May, he said: "There is no support for this to take place. I've been through this, I've seen it before, you know when there's a real groundswell rumbling, there is not in there."

Watch his full comments here:

Iain Duncan Smith's advice to Theresa May is to "keep going" and tells Cabinet plotters to "shut up for God's sake" #marr pic.twitter.com/D3iFcUeDvb — The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) 16 July 2017