UK prime minister Theresa May, following leadership challenges from an audience heckler as well as members of her party, is preparing to shake up her cabinet, according to an interview with the Sunday Times (paywall). That’s another way of saying she may demote foreign minister Boris Johnson:
“It has never been my style to hide from a challenge and I’m not going to start now. I’m the PM, and part of my job is to make sure I always have the best people in my cabinet, to make the most of the wealth of talent available to me in the party.”
Johnson—who wrote an article (paywall) last month outlining his own vision for Britain’s departure from the EU—is widely seen as having his own ambitions to lead the Conservative party. May’s authority was deeply undermined after she called a snap election in June that ended her majority in parliament.
Johnson, however, will “just say no” if May seeks to demote him, according to the Telegraph (paywall). The newspaper recently featured Johnson on its front page under the headline “The roaring lion.”
Conservative MPs came to her defense on Friday after former Tory chairman Grant Shapps plotted to drive her out (paywall). The party’s leadership also accused Johnson of being involved in the attempt to oust the prime minister.
May will address parliament and meet with business leaders today (Oct. 9) as Britain begins a fifth, lower profile, round of Brexit negotiations in Brussels. Neither Brexit secretary David Davis nor his EU counterpart Michel Barnier will attend the start of the talks, which will be the last scheduled meeting between the two sides before an EU summit on Oct. 19, according to the BBC. She is tipped to give an update at 3:30pm local time saying, “I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong.”