UK Prime Minister Theresa May moved quickly to contain a crisis in her government after her chief Brexit negotiator quit, replacing him with a young euroskeptic and insisted she would press ahead with her vision for the divorce.
May appointed Dominic Raab, 44, as Brexit secretary after David Davis resigned late on Sunday in protest over her plans to maintain close ties to the European Union after the split. He is relatively inexperienced, a Brexit supporter and a potential leadership rival—but probably not just yet, Bloomberg reported.
May took the highly unusual step on Monday of getting her chief-of-staff to brief Labour lawmakers on her plans for Brexit, an indication she could be looking for support from the opposition.
The pound strengthened as May's spokesman told reporters she would press ahead with the plan agreed with her cabinet on Friday to maintain tight links to the bloc to protect vital business interests.
Lobbying Efforts
That agreement of her fractious cabinet, at a lock-in at May's countryside retreat, came after companies stepped up their lobbying efforts with warnings that severing ties to Britain's biggest trading partner—as the Brexit backers want—would be devastating for jobs and investment.
Resignations traditionally unleash leadership challenges in the UK. Davis's prompted pro-Brexit lawmakers to demand May rip up her proposals, but they did not call for her to go.
That is partly because they cannot be sure they have the numbers needed to be sure of defeating her. But Johnson's exit could embolden others.
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