http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41506740
Theresa May: Tories rally round PM after speech woes
32 minutes ago
From the section UK Politics
James Cleverly said he was "proud" of the PM for contending with a persistent cough and a prankster. John Redwood said MPs backed her "strong message". The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said that while many MPs wanted her to stay as leader, there were "emerging plots". These involved Tory MPs trying to get support to approach Mrs May privately and persuade her to stand aside.
This group will only act if they feel they have the numbers to do so "quickly and cleanly", our political editor ((Laura Kuenssberg))said, adding: "It is just not clear at the moment where the numbers really lie."
(snip)
However, the aftermath of the speech was dominated by the prime minister's struggle in delivering it and questions about what it meant for her future. A nagging cough and croaky voice forced the PM to stop on more than one occasion but she sought to make light of her troubles, cracking a joke when Chancellor Philip Hammond handed her a cough sweet.
A succession of cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, praised the speech afterwards. A No 10 source confirmed it had received calls from colleagues "offering support" to the prime minister and declared "resignation is not an issue" for Mrs May.
Politics is certainly cruel, and clearly the prime minister was the victim of some appallingly bad luck. A former minister told me that after the election and Grenfell it would only have taken one more event to trigger her exit and this "was the event". In normal political times, it is probably the case that what one minister described as a "tragedy" would have led to a prime minister being forced out or quitting. But these aren't normal times. Allies of Theresa May say Wednesday's events have shown her resilience and determination in spades, demonstrating exactly why she deserves to stay in the job.
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