European leaders on Wednesday heaped pressure on Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May to launch the country’s divorce proceedings from the EU, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin said he was ready for “constructive dialogue” with David Cameron’s successor.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that she spoke to May by phone late on Wednesday and invited her for talks in Berlin.
After her appointment, May promised that Britain will leave the European Union and will be able to “forge a bold new positive role” for itself. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies; and one can imagine that Blair, twice victor overseas but enmired at home, is similarly seduced by foreign politeness.
Davis, who was beaten by Cameron in a 2005 party leadership contest, will take on the crucial role of defending Britain’s economy from investment-withering uncertainty and covetous neighbours whilst unpicking over four decades of trade, legal and diplomatic ties to the EU.
Jokes apart, Mr Cameron sought to shore up his legacy as a reforming Prime Minister, highlighting his government’s efforts to stabilise the post-financial crisis economy and the passing of gay marriage laws.
Mr Hammond is one of a number of new appointments to the Conservative cabinet, which saw the surprise appointment of Boris Johnson the new Foreign Secretary. A statement released by Buckingham Palace said the monarch was “graciously pleased to accept” Cameron’s notice of departure.
She shows a flash of flamboyance with a colourful shoe collection – particularly her leopard-skin heels – which has become famous in the British press.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Johnson to congratulate him and “stressed US support for a sensible and measured approach to the Brexit process”, the State Department said.
With EU leaders pressing for a clear timetable on exiting the bloc, May has created a new ministerial job dedicated to Brexit, which she handed to eurosceptic lawmaker David Davis.
“We will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us”, she added.
Putting crucial worldwide portfolios firmly in the hands of Brexit supporters was perhaps an astute move for May, who had argued, tepidly, for Britain to remain in the EU.
The White House is pushing back on suggestions that her selection of Boris Johnson as foreign minister will be problematic for the U.S. Johnson had previously described Obama as a “part-Kenyan” who had an “ancestral dislike of the British empire”.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street, in London to face prime minister’s questions for the last time Wednesday, July 13, 2016. Osborne was the architect of austerity policies and a leading voice among those who had warned that leaving the European Union would spell economic doom.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was among the first to offer his congratulations to May, and said he hoped they would meet “in the near future”.
“There will be Remainers at the top of government”, he wrote in a commentary, noting that May’s new finance minister Philip Hammond campaigned alongside her to stay in the EU.
Having accepted the Queen’s invitation to form a new administration, Theresa May arrived at 10 Downing Street accompanied by her husband Phillip May.
“Leadership issue settled, now I expect we work quickly to deliver certainty”, he said.
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May is something of an unknown quantity internationally, but European Council president Donald Tusk said he looked forward to a “fruitful working relationship” with her.
