LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2018) Hard Brexiteers and UKIP supporters are getting increasingly dissatisfied with the way Prime Minister Theresa May is handling the Brexit issue and actively seeking to join the ruling party, which stokes allegations of May's possible unseating, a move that is unlikely to take place before next March.
The debate around the prospects of Mays unseating resumed earlier in the week after former UKIP donor and Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks and the pro-Brexit group's communications director Andy Wigmore announced that they were joining the Conservative Party. The two urged their supporters to follow their suit so they could vote in the party's "inevitable" leadership election. On Thursday, the partys spokesman said that their applications had been rejected.
The events almost coincide with former UKIP leader Nigel Farages return to frontline politics, after his joining the hardline Brexit campaign group Leave Means Leave, set up in opposition to Mays Chequers plan on the countrys future relationship with the European Union.
A source in the parliament clarified that the recent moves clear indicated the determination of supporters of hard Brexit and the UKIP to unseat May.
"Look at these two recent news stories: Nigel Farages return to British politics and Arron Banks decision to become a Tory. The idea is very simple: UKIP members will make their way to the Conservative party, it will take them three months to get voting rights and obviously there is no chance they will support Theresa May in case of any leadership challenge," the source told Sputnik.
According to the source, their goal is to tip the balance within the party amid growing dissatisfaction with the governments negotiating stance on all fronts.
"There are attempts to change the balance of power within the Conservative party. And while the government is busy discussing �no deal scenario, both Brexiteers and Remainers are increasingly unhappy with the way the cabinet is handling the talks," he noted.
A source in the Conservative party suggested that further developments would depend on the behavior of potential candidates for the post of prime minister.
According to the source, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has a real chance to win a leadership challenge and take over the wanted post.
Johnson will, however, have to be extremely cautious and show good political balancing, the source said. He clarified that he will have to further insist on hard Brexit and, at the same time, abstain from an excessively big drift to the "right," so as not to alienate moderate Brexiteers.
Johnson, meanwhile, does not enjoy great support in the parliament, he added.
The source declined to talk about other potential candidates for the post. Nevertheless, incumbent Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, and the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Michael Gove, have all been mentioned by the media and political scientists as Mays possible future competitors.
MAY MIGHT BE UNSEATED ONCE SHE DOES 'DIRTY JOB'
When asked about the timing of the possible leadership challenge, both sources said that this could happen around the time when the United Kingdom is set to officially leave the bloc, which means, in March 2019.
The source in the parliament suggested that May could be cynically allowed to do the "dirty" work, so as the next head of the government could start building a new type of relationship with the European Union.
The source in the Conservative Party, however, noted that May had been "buried" multiple times, but she had proved to be very resilient and could survive the turmoil this time as well. He, however, noted that the challenge for her to retain the position was mounting.
