Jokes apart, Cameron sought to shore up his legacy as a reforming prime minister, highlighting his government’s efforts to stabilize the post-financial crisis economy and the passing of gay marriage laws.
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“A time will come for reflection on the good in Cameron’s leadership. on his fundamentally correct vision for a one-nation Tory party in possession of the centre ground”, The Economist said.
Even so, May might be tempted to go to the polls to confirm her own mandate, and because the main opposition Labour Party is in the midst of a leadership struggle that puts it in a weak position.
May did not back the campaign to leave the European Union, expressing a preference to remain part of the bloc, but she now emphasizes that “Brexit means Brexit” and says the voters’ wishes will be respected.
He found time to congratulate Wimbledon victor Andy Murray and other British players there, and rebuffed rumours that he does not like Downing St.’s resident cat, Larry – “I do!”
” Larry, a rescue cat, was brought into Downing Street after a rat was spotted in two television news bulletins scurrying around outside the famous black door of the prime minister’s residence”.
“We are working hard to do what we want, which is to give a guarantee to European Union citizens that they will have their rights respected, all those who have come to this country”, he said.
After Cameron formally resigns, the 59-year-old May will visit Buckingham Palace, where the queen will ask her to form a new government.
“I absolutely love my job and the role that I have, and I would love to be able to carry it on but it is going to be up to the new Prime Minister, and when she gets the keys to number 10 she is going to have a lot of tough decisions to make but I would love to still be part of the cabinet”.
Mr Cameron will leave office today aged 49, the youngest ex-prime minister since the Earl of Rosebery 121 years ago, with his domestic policy agenda largely unfinished.
May is expected to shuffle several top jobs and appoint a new “Brexit minister” in charge of negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union.
A statement from the palace says the monarch met with Cameron, who formally resigned the office before handing over to his successor, Theresa May. Given that British parliamentary terms last five years and Cameron’s second government was formed only last year, May and her Conservatives don’t need to face re-election until 2020.
May also noted the need “to negotiate the best deal for Britain in leaving the EU” in brief comments outside parliament.
One of the more cheerful exchanges took place between Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has received a standing ovation from his Conservative colleagues at the close of his final session of prime minister’s questions.
Cameron appeared to be in a jovial mood as he told members of Parliament: “I have addressed 5,500 questions from this dispatch box – I’ll leave it to others to decide how many I’ve answered”.
Cameron once derided Juncker as a Brussels backroom bureaucrat and tried to block him from becoming commission president. But Juncker told reporters in Beijing that he had “no beef” with Cameron.
(AP Photo/Frank Augstein). Larry the Downing Street cat walks past a police office in 10 Downing Street in London, after Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron left to face prime minister’s questions for the last time Wednesday, July 13, 2016.
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But it will now be up to Mrs May to deliver the social reforms that Mr Cameron had set out at the start of this year.
