UK PM May seeks unity amid turmoil over Brexit strategy



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LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May holds a meeting of her cabinet on Tuesday, seeking to unify her government after the government has thrown into turmoil when two senior ministers quit over her plans for trade with the European Union after Brexit.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, July 10, 2018. REUTERS / Hannah McKay

With less than nine months until the end of May Brexit without jeopardizing business with the world's biggest trading bloc of 27 countries while forging new global deals.

Her plan for a "business-friendly" Brexit prompted the resignations of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Minister David Davis, but it would not be an immediate challenge to her leadership.

At a meeting with her Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday, she was cheered up and applauded by many as she could not get away from the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to take power instead.

"I think it is right that the cabinet backs the prime minister and speaks to them so they do not go to it," Justice Secretary David Gauke told BBC radio.

Senior lawmakers in her party said they did not expect the Prime Minister to vote, but some Conservatives were still saying that she should go.

If May survives the domestic political turmoil, she still has to convince EU leaders that her proposals can work. Europe's most powerful leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, arrives in London later on Tuesday.

Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt arrives in Downing Street for this morning's meeting in Westminster, London, Britain, July 10, 2018. REUTERS / Simon Dawson

"BREXIT DREAM DYING"

May 24th, 2008, 12:20 AM Three junior departments also leave their posts.

"Brexit should be about opportunity and hope," Johnson said in a scathing resignation letter that was echoed in headlines in a number of Britain's national newspapers. "That dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt."

May, having finally signaled its vision for Brexit, spent two hours in parliament defiantly defending the plans and called for Brussels to engage fully or risk the damaging prospect of Britain leaving the block with no deal in place.

"I have a list of every possible idea and every possible version of Brexit. This is the right Brexit, "she said.

Some Conservative Party lawmakers warned they would not tolerate a betrayal of Brexit.

"I was elected to represent my constituents and the Prime Minister's team, and I was elected to do so. Andrea Jenkyns wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

Northern Ireland party to govern.

Northern Irish party to govern.

Slideshow (3 Images)

While other senior ministers rallied after the reigns of the Westminster reeling on Monday, rumblings of discontent among rank and file lawmakers remained.

The Sun, Britain's biggest-selling newspaper, said there had been "blunder after blunder" by May.

"THERE IS CHAOS"

"Now there is chaos," the paper said in its editorial. "Brussels must not be mistaken, as EU Council chief Donald Tusk hinted, that one more push will destroy Brexit. Brexit must and will happen. "

In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the EU, while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent, backed staying.

The major issues for Britons were concerned about immigration, sovereignty and the sums paid to the EU.

The government has battled it down to prevent it from entering the marketplace. Brexit deal.

"What the Prime Minister is proposing is a way in which we can ensure we do not have … friction with our trade with the European Union … and here is a practical way in which we can do that, "Gauke said.

"But I come back to this point, if people do not like this proposal what is their alternative? I would not do this. But remember, what are the options in front of us? "

Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, William Maclean

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