With one of the two to be anointed as prime minister, that had set the stage for Britain to have its first woman as prime minister since Thatcher, who held the position from 1979 to 1990. Cameron had already announced in June that he would step down by October.
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“She will be an excellent Prime Minister”.
Theresa May will become the prime minister who leads Britain into Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly.
A whirlwind of events took the British public by surprise on Monday.
It came after he failed to convince the country to remain in the European Union in a divisive referendum that has sent shockwaves through Britain’s political establishment.
That process might start sooner than expected if the European Union sticks to its insistence that the new British Prime Minister would have just days to officially set the Brexit in motion.
The day’s dramatic events began with Andrea Leadsom pulling out of the final stage of the Tory Party leadership race.
“Yesterday’s event in the West Midlands was the start of what we expected to be a lengthy campaign to convince everyone that Theresa is the right person to lead the country”.
Conservative lawmakers narrowed the field from five contenders to two, Leadsom and May.
The 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, which is overseeing the leadership contest, declared Mrs. Then it will be May’s turn to go to the queen, who will formally ask her to form a government.
For the past six years she’s been Britain’s Home Secretary, in charge of policing, immigration and counterterrorism.
At the launch of her – suddenly shortened – campaign for leadership, in Birmingham Monday (July 11) she gave several clues as to her priorities. Britain’s Conservative Party has confirmed that Theresa May has been elected party leader “with immediate effect” and will become the country’s next prime minister.
“There is no going back on Brexit, and I will be working on behalf of my constituents to ensure that we get on with it”. However, her campaign had been rocked over the weekend after she claimed she would make a better prime minister than May, since she has children and May does not. “I am therefore withdrawing from the leadership election and I wish Theresa May the very greatest success.I assure her of my full support”, Leadsom told reporters.
She was to spend Tuesday sketching out who will take the key roles in her administration, which will be focused on delivering Brexit. In the months preceding Britain’s exit from the EU, May supported the “Stay” camp, though she did not project her stance as vigorously or vocally as other candidates.
The former shadow business secretary Eagle is hoping to oust opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. He is refusing to resign and says he can win a leadership battle, which would be decided by a vote of party members.
Corbyn, out of favor with most of his own Labour MPs, has said he will stand in a leadership contest. He said there was no need to rerun the election.
May’s accession is unlikely to end Britain’s political turbulence.
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Oliver Daddow, senior lecturer in politics at Nottingham Trent University, said May would be well advised to call a snap election while Labour was in disarray. “She’d have to really mess it up not to win”.
