May takes control of Brexit as ministers defy her plans

Bloomberg

Theresa May rolled the dice with a dramatic reshuffle of her ministerial team as she battles to cling onto her job and stop her own party tearing up her Brexit deal.
The prime minister reduced the power of her critics and promoted allies to key positions as she took personal charge of the final days of the UK’s divorce talks with the European Union.
The appointments round off an extraordinary week in which seven members of her government quit their posts, and a plot to oust her from power gathered momentum. May’s perilous position puts at risk the fruits of two years of negotiations and raises the chance that Britain will crash out of the EU without a deal in March.
In an effort to seize control of the political agenda, May named a junior official, Stephen Barclay, as her new Brexit Secretary after Dominic Raab quit the role a day earlier.
And she brought former home secretary Amber Rudd, one of the stalwarts of the Remain campaign in the 2016 referendum, back into the cabinet to replace Esther McVey, the Brexit supporter who quit as Work and Pensions Secretary.
Crucially, May stripped the Brexit post of responsibility for the negotiations with the EU. Instead, Barclay — who supported Leave in 2016 — will focus on the domestic legislation to prepare Britain for its scheduled departure in March.
She also promoted Stephen Hammond, a fervent pro-European who has voted against the government in a bid to maintain closer ties with the bloc.
The appointments took place against the unprecedented backdrop of five cabinet ministers plotting to overhaul the agreement May has secured with the bloc.
Andrea Leadsom, who is convening the group, Liam Fox, Chris Grayling, Penny Mordaunt and Michael Gove are trying to draft an alternative plan that they can support and so stay in the government, a person familiar with the matter said.
Leadsom, Mordaunt and Gove were all strongly touted to resign and join the seven members of May’s administration who quit their posts yesterday. But instead, they’ve remained in the cabinet — for now — to try and secure the changes they want to the UK Brexit strategy from within the government.
They will struggle to make a difference, as the EU has all but closed the door on any changes.
May is sticking resolutely to her strategy in the face of widespread hostility from opposition parties, her supposed allies in Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, and members of her own Conservatives.
She took three hours of questions in the House of Commons in a session that made it clear she’ll struggle to secure the approval she needs from the chamber. If she fails, the risk is that Britain tumbles out of the bloc in March without any agreement to smooth the process.
Amid the political drama, UK business tried to come to the premier’s aid.