Theresa May: 'I won't hide from a challenge'

PM says that she is ‘pretty resilient’, as Boris Johnson acknowledges that MPs ‘sniffed the air’ before rallying round her

Theresa May: “One minute journalists are accusing me of being a robot, the next they claim I’m a weeping woman’ Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

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Theresa May has vowed in a Sunday newspaper that she will not “hide from a challenge” amid speculation that she could be about to perform a cabinet reshuffle in an attempt to repair the damage to her authority.

The prime minister, who appears to have seen off an immediate attempt to oust her after her mishap-hit conference speech, is still vulnerable and has come under pressure to bring new faces into her top team in an effort to revitalise her administration. 

Axe old guard to make way for young stars, senior Tories tell May

The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has urged Tories to get behind the prime minister, but acknowledged that there had been a moment while MPs “sniffed the air” before rallying round the embattled premier.

And the former prime minister Sir John Major hit out at the “self-absorbed” and “disloyal” behaviour of some Tories who are “driven by their own personal agenda” – comments that will be viewed as a slapdown to Johnson.

May has repeatedly faced questions about whether Johnson, a potential leadership rival, is “unsackable” due to her weakened position after her gamble of a general election backfired, depriving her of a Commons majority. But asked what she might do with the foreign secretary, May told the Sunday Times: “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.”

May’sconference speech was interrupted by a prankster who handed her a fake P45, while a persistent cough left her struggling to be heard and a backdrop began to shed letters as she made her crucial address.

The prime minister denied that she had cried after the speech and hit out at some of the media portrayals of her. “One minute journalists are accusing me of being an ice maiden or a robot, then they claim I’m a weeping woman in dire need of a good night’s sleep,” she told the newspaper. “The truth is, my feelings can be hurt, like everyone else, but I am pretty resilient.”

Axe old guard to make way for young stars, senior Tories tell May

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She admitted the speech was an “uncomfortable” time but never considered abandoning the address. “I am not someone who gives up,” she said.

Questions have been asked about the security arrangements that allowed comedian Lee Nelson – real name Simon Brodkin – to carry out the P45 stunt. May said she trusted her police protection officers completely, but there would “be a review into the events of the day”.

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An attempted coup led by former party chairman Grant Shapps has fizzled out, but the Sunday Times claimed that at least three cabinet ministers had discussed the need to replace the prime minister on Thursday evening, the day after her conference calamity. One told the newspaper: “It feels to me that this is over before Christmas.”

Johnson used his Sunday Telegraph column to question whether the Tory party would allow itself to be forced into “an election that no one wants”, writing: “What do you think you are doing, you nutters?” He said the party’s MPs had “sniffed the air and turned sensibly away from the cliff”.

Major used a Mail on Sunday article to urge the Tories to “wake up and smell the coffee”, telling May that radical action on her social justice agenda was needed and calling on the party to unite or risk the “neo-Marxist” Jeremy Corbyn taking power.

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