Once again, rumours began to swirl around Westminster on Tuesday that there would – finally – be a confidence vote in Theresa May. News outlets and journalists on Twitter breathlessly announced that the chairman of the 1922 committee, Graham Brady, had received the necessary 48 letters from MPs to call a confidence vote.
Unfortunately for them, all the speculation ended up being untrue. Despite frequent claims that a Tory revolt is underway, the numbers never quite seem to add up. Only Brady himself knows how many letters MPs have sent, and he confirmed later that the threshold had not been reached this time.
This led Mr S to think: haven’t politicians and pundits predicted Theresa May’s impending doom several times before? Well, if you feel like you’re suffering from a large case of déjà vu after the latest would-be leadership election, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Steerpike has compiled a list of the reports so far alleging the number is close to the magic 48.
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