Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience where she invited the former Home Secretary to become Prime Minister and form a new government at Buckingham Palace on July 13, 2016 in London, England.
Advertisement
Amidst the Brexit crisis, David Cameron finally leaves No. 10 Downing Street for the last time, handing over the reigns of Britain to fellow Conservative party member, Theresa May.
Flanked by his wife and children, the PM said Britain was “much stronger” than when he took over.
Mr Cameron went to Buckingham Palace just before 5.00pm on Wednesday to formally tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
In his final question and answer session in the House of Commons, Cameron echoed a line he used to launch himself with in 2005, taunting Labour’s then-prime minister Tony Blair. He later made the short drive to the palace, where the queen accepted his resignation after six years in office.
She is also expected to meet Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the coming days, with Sturgeon telling a press conference Wednesday that Brexit “does not apply to Scotland, as Scotland voted differently in the referendum”. “I will miss the barbs of the opposition”, Cameron said, promising to watch future exchanges as a regular Conservative Party lawmaker on the back benches.
He said: “We’ve today had warm words from our new prime minister about the need to stand up for more than a “privileged few”.
After that she will have to negotiate the terms and conditions of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
“I came into Downing Street to confront our problems as a country and lead people through hard decisions so that together we could reach better times”, Cameron told the Telegraph in an article published Wednesday.
She told them her new Government would need time before beginning talks on Britain’s European Union exit.
Cameron stepped down after Britons rejected his entreaties and voted in a June 23 referendum to quit the European Union, weakening the 28-nation bloc and creating huge economic uncertainty, including likely damage to trade and investment.
Standing with his family outside the famous black door, Mr Cameron said that he believed he was leaving the country “much stronger” and the economy “immeasurably stronger” after his six years in office. Hoping to unite a divided nation after the referendum, Theresa May’s new Cabinet lineup is seen to reflect a good balance of figures who had either opposed or endorsed the Brexit initiative. But The Sun said Cameron had been “undone by his Olympian overconfidence”, while the Guardian called him a “prime minister of broken promises”.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged May to swiftly engage divorce talks with the EU.
Advertisement
Theresa May’s new cabinet is already starting to take shape, with Reuters reporting the resignation of finance minister George Osborne.
