BULLETIN:  MAY DAY – SHE SURVIVES – AT 4:05 P.M. ET:   BRITISH PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY HAS SURVIVED A NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE, AND WILL REMAIN – FROM FOX: 

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May survived a vote of confidence in her leadership of her party Wednesday, but not until after she reportedly promised she would step down before the next general election.

A leadership vote had been triggered after 48 Conservative Party MPs had written letters expressing no confidence in her leadership -- 15 percent of the party’s members in the Commons. But the vote of confidence of the broader bloc of Tory MPs went in her favor -- with 200 MPs backing her leadership and 117 voting against her.

The victory means not only that May holds onto power, but also that now she cannot be formally challenged by her own party for a year.

May had faced furious criticism from members of her own party for her handling of Britain’s departure from the European Union -- from which the U.K. is set to depart in March 2019. A number of Cabinet members, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and two Brexit secretaries, have resigned this year over her handling of the negotiations.

The Times of London reported that May told Tories that she would not fight the next election, currently scheduled to be held in 2022. This appears to be a concession to her critics, and indicates that she may step down after the U.K. begins its departure from the E.U. in March.

COMMENT:  Seems reasonable.  And it keeps the nightmarish Labour leader, Comrade Jeremy Corbyn, out of 10 Downing Street, at least for now.

December 12, 2018