British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday announced she will step down as Conservative leader on June 7 after failing to convince MPs to support her Brexit deal.
“It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit,” May said in a statement outside her Downing Street residence.
The humiliating spectacle of May, who will become one of Britain’s shortest-serving post-WWII prime ministers, detailing her own departure date follows a fresh revolt to her latest Brexit plan this week among cabinet colleagues and Tory MPs.
The embattled leader has previously said she would step aside once her unpopular EU divorce deal had been passed by parliament, and launched a fresh bid Tuesday for lawmakers to approve it in early June.
The government has now postponed that vote
MPs have already overwhelmingly rejected her withdrawal agreement, struck with European Union leaders last year, three times.
May’s latest proposals, which included giving them the option of holding a referendum on the deal, prompted a furious reaction from Conservatives — including cabinet members.
“I thought she deserved one last roll of the dice. But she took those dice and threw them off the table,” a senior minister told The Times.
May has been under growing pressure to quit following months of political paralysis over Brexit, which have intensified in recent weeks following disastrous results in the May 2 English local elections.
The Conservatives are expected to fare similarly badly in this week’s European Parliament elections when the results are announced late Sunday.
May’s imminent departure will fuel a Conservative Party leadership contest — already unofficially under way — that is expected to encompass more than a dozen candidates and favor a Brexiteer.
Tory MPs will hold a series of votes to whittle the contenders down to a final two who will be put forward to the party’s more than 100,000 members.
Former foreign secretary and gaffe-prone Brexit cheerleader Boris Johnson is the membership’s favorite, but a considerable number of Conservative MPs are thought to hold serious reservations about his suitability for the top job.
May will leave office without any significant achievements to her name — other than the bungled handling of Brexit, according to political analysts.
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