Speaking outside 10 Downing Street in her first speech as PM, she said: “Together we will build a better Britain”.
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She vowed to lead a government that worked for all, not just the “privileged few”, promising to give people who were “just managing” and “working around the clock” more control over their lives.
“First, the need for strong, proven leadership to steer us through what will be hard and uncertain economic and political times, the need, of course, to negotiate the best deal for Britain in leaving the European Union, and to forge a new role for ourselves in the world”, she said. “And, I know because we’re Great Britain, we will rise to the challenge”.
He will be then driven up to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II after which May will have her own audience at the palace when she will accept the monarch’s offer to form a new government.
Theresa, 59, takes over from David Cameron as Britain’s Prime Minister.
She paid tribute to Mr Cameron as a “great modern prime minister” who had stabilised the economy, brought down the deficit and increased employment, but whose greatest legacy would be social justice measures like the legalisation of gay marriage and the removal of the low-paid from income tax.
Cameron said he was “delighted that for the second time in British history the new Prime Minister will be a woman, and once again a Conservative”.
In another key appointment, May named former foreign minister Philip Hammond as her new finance minister, with the job of calming fears over the economic fall-out of leaving Britain’s biggest market.
A flurry of appointments took place during the first few hours of May becoming the first female Prime Minister of UK.
Osborne will be replaced as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Philip Hammond, who was Foreign Secretary in Cameron’s government.
On a more serious note, Cameron said he cared passionately about the United Kingdom, adding that “we need to make sure as we leave the European Union, how we keep the benefits of the common travel area”.
“This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, other than one meeting this afternoon with Her Majesty, the queen, the diary for the rest of my day is remarkably light”, Cameron said, to laughter from lawmakers.
Over a dozen demonstrators were dressed in costumes of Theresa May and carried various signs, including ones reading, “We don’t want another 3 years of this”, and “May the farce be with you”.
He played a key role in the extraordinary national dramas of the last few months, abandoning Cameron, who desperately tried to keep Britain in the European Union, and cheerfully becoming the public face of the Brexit campaign. We will do everything we can to help everyone.
If he were granted one wish, he said, it would be the “continued success of this great country that I love so very much”.
May has effectively handed Johnson, Davis and Fox the responsibility for successfully carrying out the withdrawal – known as Brexit – which they repeatedly promised would yield new opportunities.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter of congratulation to May, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
