Britain will have a woman prime minister for only the second time in its history, it emerged Thursday after Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom were shortlisted in the governing party’s leadership contest.
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Under Conservative Party rules, the two remaining candidates will now face a vote by the party membership.
In the second round of voting by Tory MPs, Mrs May picked up 199 votes against Energy Minister Mrs Leadsom’s 84.
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, was eliminated from race after being pushed back into third place with just 46 votes.
Cameron announced his resignation after unsuccessfully campaigning for Britain to vote “remain” in the June 23 referendum that asked voters whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union.
The race pits Home Secretary Theresa May, a rising star of the party’s right, against her eurosceptic rival Andrea Leadsom.
“It’s now up to the Conservative Party and indeed the wider country to assess the skills, the abilities and the leadership potential of these two candidates”, he said. Members will vote via a postal ballot that is expected to be finished September 9.
May, 59, who has served as home secretary since 2010, has a long track record in government.
“This vote shows that the Conservative Party can come together, and under my leadership it will”, May told supporters after the results were announced.
Mrs Leadsom played a high-profile role in the campaign for Britain to quit the EU.
The victor will become the first woman to lead Britain since Margaret Thatcher, who governed from 1979 to 1990, transforming the country with her staunchly free-market policies.
Mrs May has the backing of Guy Opperman, the Conservative MP for Hexham, and has now won the support of Mrs Trevelyan, MP for Berwick.
‘Theresa May got 60% of support from MPs so we know among the parliamentary party that she is the favourite.
Exactly who will now be decided by ordinary members of the Conservative party, who will now have an opportunity to vote on their preferred candidate leading up to the Conservative party conference in October.
“We need to get on with it”, she said.
She said: “I am pleased that all my colleagues in the leadership contest – whichever side they campaigned on – are fully committed to negotiating our departure from the European Union and building new trading relationships with the rest of the world”.
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Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who is backing Mrs Leadsom, said she had “real steel” but within the “velvet glove of compassion”.
