On Wednesday, 48 Conservative members of Parliament sent letters to the 1922 Committee, a group of rank-and-file MPs from the party who hold no government office, triggering a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May.
In the British parliamentary system, a vote of confidence or no confidence is initiated by the government itself — May’s own Conservative Party. The issue is settled by a simple majority vote, which is 158 members. While May survived Wednesday’s vote, the motion leaves her authority severely weakened.
The United Kingdom is slated to depart the European Union on March 29, 2019.