The following sentence is one I never thought I would write.

I was pleased when the motion of no confidence in Theresa May failed.

Given her government’s treatment of the poorest and those most in need of help, and having met and spoken with many of them personally, it is clear that policies on austerity, welfare and asylum heap even more misery on people who are already suffering in one way or another.

But the announcement late on Wednesday night she had seen off a challenge from a small mob led by Jacob Rees-Mogg met with my approval.

A victory for the right-wing Eurosceptic, little Englanders with a superiority complex, could have led to a transition in government that would have been even worse.

Had they been successful, Rees-Mogg and his followers would have ousted one Tory Prime Minister and replaced her with another. Democracy would not come into it.

It would not be a decision of the people, not even a decision of the Parliament but the decision of a faction within a party to determine who does or doesn’t govern Britain.

The decision to try and remove the Prime Minister was not taken in the interests of the country but to serve the interests of a minority of the Tory Party and a few ambitious individuals.

That little more than 300 people had the power to decide the fate of an elected Prime Minister, albeit with a minority, and the same 300 or so people would have been largely responsible for choosing her successor should be laughable in a modern democratic nation.

But democracy has little place in the world of the political elite who have managed to seize and keep power for so long.

Had this been a no confidence vote in the House of Commons, brought by either Labour or the SNP, it is highly unlikely it would have been supported by the 117 Tory MPs who voted against Theresa May this week.

Because that would have meant a General Election and the possibility that another party would govern.

Instead the vote was about the expectations and ambitions of a privileged elite who think they were born to rule and who were certainly schooled to rule at very expensive exclusive institutions.

But the price their parents paid for them to attend places like Eton and Harrow is nothing compared to the price paid by the children of those who survive on less than the cost of the annual fees to send a child to one of those places.

If Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson do not think Theresa May is fit to be Prime Minister they should attempt to remove her through the House of Commons, choose another leader and let the people decide who should be in Number Ten.

If Theresa May is to be removed as Prime Minister it should either be the choice of the people at an election or the Parliament as a whole.

While there would have been many on universal credit, waiting for a PIP decision, walking to a foodbank or sweating on a decision on their asylum application who would have been glad to see the back of her, that was not the way to do it.

Prime Ministers should be chosen by the people in polling stations not in the private members clubs of Westminster.