David Cameron has held his final cabinet meeting as prime minister.
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Mrs May had been expecting a nine-week conservative leadership race, but her rival, Andrea Leadsom, withdrew on Monday. Cameron is to formally step down on Wednesday after prime minister’s questions.
“Now is the time to ensure that we unite, move on and make sure the country gets the government it needs, and I support Theresa May”.
Mrs Leadsom’s surprise announcement left Mrs May, who had been the front runner, as the only remaining candidate to take over the leadership of the Conservative Party and, therefore, also become prime minister.
Mr Cameron, meanwhile, said he was “delighted” that 59-year-old Mrs May would replace him in Downing Street.
She has been labelled, in an unguarded moment, a “bloody hard woman” by senior Conservative Kenneth Clarke.
Accompanied by her banker husband Philip and surrounded by supportive MPs, a smiling May later stressed the need “to negotiate the best deal for Britain in leaving the EU” in brief comments outside parliament.
The first task for May will be to handle Britain’s Brexit vote result. “I think she is a thoroughly decent person but there would have been continual questions about her experience to take on the very hard job of being Prime Minister of this country during this uncertain period”.
In a pitch for the political center, she said she would prioritize more house-building, a crackdown on tax evasion by individuals and companies, lower energy costs and a narrowing of the “unhealthy” gap between the pay of employees and corporate bosses.
And she set out her One Nation vision of “a country that works not for the privileged few, but that works for every one of us”, adding: “We are going to give people more control over their lives and that’s how together we will build a better Britain”.
May’s biggest challenge will be to map out the course of Britain’s withdrawal, a process still clouded in uncertainty, and to sort out new terms of trade with the other 27 European Union nations.
That potentially puts May on a collision course with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is often portrayed as the EU’s most influential politician as leader of its strongest economy.
More than 1,000 British lawyers said in a letter to Cameron that members of parliament should decide whether Britain leaves the European Union because the referendum was not legally binding.
During the European Union referendum campaign, Osborne was passionate about remaining in the European Union – and lost his leadership hopes when voters turned the other way.
At the same time, the head of the main opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, is also facing a challenge to his job.
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“Theresa May carried over 60 per cent of support from the parliamentary party”.
