May leadership plot: Shropshire MPs rally round embattled Prime Minister

Grant Shapps said about 30 backbench MPs and "one or two" cabinet ministers had supported an attempt to persuade Mrs May to resign following her failure to win a majority at this year's General Election.

He said he had compiled a list of MPs unhappy with Mrs May's leadership before this week's Conservative Party conference.

Pressure on the Prime Minister has intensified following the conference, where her keynote address to the party was interrupted by a prankster handing her a P45, and marred by her repeated coughing throughout the speech.

But despite calls for her to stand down, Mrs May appears to have strong backing among MPs in Shropshire and Mid-Wales.

Telford MP Lucy Allan moved swiftly to declare her support for Mrs May, describing the Prime Minister as "inspirational".

She said: "Theresa May is a very brave woman, and not just because she made it to the end of a speech, despite distraction and mishap.

"She has taken on the extraordinarily difficult job of leading the country in the aftermath of shock referendum outcome, an outcome that the most powerful forces seek to frustrate.

"She is taking on the powerful in her own party, the EU, the House of Lords, the media, the London elites, George Osborne and other ex-ministers: for some, a Corbyn Government is seen as preferable to a successful Brexit.

"She is doing this through a sense of duty and obligation to deliver for ordinary working people of this country."

The Telford MP warned that if Mrs May were to resign, there was a realistic prospect that Brexit would not happen. She said those who tried to destabilise the Prime Minister were well aware of that.

"Without doubt this is a momentous time in our history. Our Prime Minister needs the support of her Members of Parliament. We should all remember she was elected by the people only a few months ago to be our Prime Minister and to lead us through this extraordinary time. It is not for disappointed ex-ministers to decide otherwise."

"Theresa May is an inspiration to anyone who is up against it."

Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said Mr Shapps' intervention was unhelpful and did represent the majority of Conservative MPs.

"I support the Prime Minister, and think she is the best person for the job, Mrs Shapps' comments are not representative of the parliamentary party," he said.

"He has been very misguided. This is a lady who has devoted her life to public service, and was the longest serving home secretary in modern history, a job which her male predecessors had found a complete quagmire, a poisoned chalice.

"She was a very successful Home Secretary and is going to be a very good prime minister."

Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, condemned the plot, which he said was certain to fail. He said the fact that Mr Shapps' list had only 30 MPs showed that it did not have the support.

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies also pledged his total loyalty to Mrs May. He said "I'm solidly behind the Prime Minister, I think it's a pity that people are briefing against the Prime Minister, it should be a team effort.

"Anybody who has played a team sport like rugby or football, as I have, will know it is all about the team, and this sort of thing is not healthy.

"I'm fully behind the Prime Minister, I believe she will be staying on and seeing us through Brexit."

Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, a health minister in the Government, also criticised Mr Shapps for speaking out.

"I support the Prime Minister," he says. "I would say it is most inappropriate to speak against the Prime Minister in public."

North Shropshire's Owen Paterson said he was certainly not one of the MPs who supported Mr Shapps' call for Mrs May to resign.

"Most emphatically not," he said.

"The last thing this country needs at the moment is a leadership challenge."

Mr Shapps said he had compiled a list of MPs of discontented MPs existed "long before" the party met in Manchester and that Downing Street "pleaded" with him not to go public earlier.

But party whips forced his hand by briefing the media instead, he said.

Mr Shapps said five former cabinet ministers, one former minister and "quite a lot of the backbenchers" from both Remain and Leave sides wanted Mrs May gone, and that the list was "growing".

"We think May is a decent person doing her best - but she led us into an election with that result," he said.