David Cameron will resign as British Prime Minister today to give way to Theresa May to become the next head of the Queen’s Government in the United Kingdom. After taking part in his last weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in parliament’s House of Commons at lunchtime, Cameron will make his way to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth.
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The Prime Minister will then arrive at her new home at 10 Downing Street – freshly vacated by Cameron.
There is also speculation that May, Britain’s second female prime minister – after Margaret Thatcher – will boost the number of women in top posts.
An obvious candidate would be Chris Grayling, who helped to run Ms May’s leadership campaign and avoided the more vitriolic clashes of the European Union referendum.
For The Guardian daily, “she comes to office at a time that would have challenged a Churchill”.
Prime Minister David Cameron will be leaving 10 Downing St. – but another resident of the famous address won’t be going anywhere.
The new leader, Britain’s Home Secretary – in charge of immigration and law and order – for the past six years, has the tough task of calming the country, and the financial markets, after the massive upheaval that has followed the June 23 referendum.
“My advice to my successor, who is a brilliant negotiator, is that we should try to be as close to the European Union as we can be for the benefits of trade, of cooperation and for security”, he said in televised comments. He will chiefly be remembered for organising a referendum aimed at stopping his party “banging on about Europe” and then spectacularly failing to clinch it. She said simply that she did not believe she had sufficient support within the party to remain in the race. After months of simmering discontent among Labour lawmakers with party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the conflict exploded into the open after the referendum when the vast majority of the lawmakers rejected his leadership, accusing him of failing to campaign vigorously enough for a Remain vote.
On Wednesday evening Theresa May will become Prime Minister and is expected to announce leading figures in her new Cabinet this evening.
In a sign of their anxiousness to move ahead, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will hold a summit in August on the Brexit vote, the French presidency said Wednesday.
As May plans to shakes up the team running the government, allies including Amber Rudd, now UK Energy Secretary, and Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, are among those expected to be in line for prominent positions, reports the Guardian.
She is also liked in and around Maidenhead, the well-to-do commuter town west of London that she has represented in parliament since 1997.
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In a rare personal interview marking her leadership bid, she described how she and her husband Philip had come to terms with not having children, saying that “you accept the hand that life deals you”.
