Incoming British leader Theresa May was greeted with cheers as she entered the House of Commons to attend David Cameron’s final session as prime minister before the transfer of power begins.
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Theresa May is poised to become the next prime minister of Britain, thanks to the withdrawal of her only opponent, Andrea Leadsom, from the Conservative leadership race on Monday.
Cameron will formally tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham palace later in the day.
Although “Leave” won the referendum in Great Britain about the question of whether or not the United Kingdom should remain part of the European Union, the Tories’ new leader belonged to the Remain camp. His family’s London home is now rented.
He also held up a photo of himself with Larry the Downing Street cat, saying he loved the “chief mouser” and was sad to be leaving him behind.
Cameron, 49, will be the youngest prime minister to leave office since the Earl of Rosebery in 1895.
The steely vicar’s daughter faces a major challenge in trying to negotiate an amicable divorce from the European Union following the shock vote for Brexit, which she has vowed to make a “success”.
May has indicated she will not be rushed into triggering the Brexit procedure.
In a carefully orchestrated political ballet, David Cameron left his job and his home at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, resigning as prime minister soon afterward at Buckingham Palace.
The vote exposed deep inequalities in British society which May has promised to address and upended the political scene, sending her Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party into turmoil.
May, Britain’s second woman prime minister after Margaret Thatcher, will then travel to Downing Street just before 6 p.m., where she will speak.
Theresa May has pledged to stand up against “the privileged few” in support of ordinary people in Britain. Her hardline credentials were on display earlier this year when she said Britain should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. May is expected to unveil the new Cabinet lineup, including a minister in charge of implementing Brexit.
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. Even though she was not in favour of Brexit, she will have to now face its repercussions.
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.
“I was one of the 40 or so MPs who urged the party board to shorten the nine weeks planned to ballot Conservative Party members, and thus the time until a new leader was elected”.
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Calls are already growing for Britain’s prime-minister-in-waiting, May, to move faster in opening Brexit negotiations.
