Before the official move, Cameron will take his Prime Minister’s Questions Wednesday morning and at noon will meet with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation.
Advertisement
“It has been a privilege to serve the country I love”.
Although May supported Britain staying in the bloc, she said Monday that “Brexit means Brexit”, but stressed the need “to negotiate the best deal for Britain in leaving the European Union”.
Removal vans were spotted outside Downing Street on Tuesday, as Mr Cameron’s ministers paid tribute to him in his final cabinet meeting.
No wonder, she won substantial support from her Conservative party in the leadership race, polling 199 votes to her rival and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom’s 84.
She is expected to promote a string of female allies to top jobs in the hope of creating a more even gender balance in the cabinet.
“We’ll have a new prime minister by Wednesday evening”, Cameron said in a statement Monday.
Former Tory Cabinet minister John Redwood said a number of Brexit-backing Tory MPs were seeking a meeting with Mrs May as soon as possible to discuss speeding up the withdrawal process. I mean that not as an insult, although I will admit it informed my decision to become a foreign correspondent in this vast and vibrant country, rather than stalking the press galleries and pubs of Westminster.
Britain is to have a new prime minister in the form of Theresa May, now the home secretary.
But even before arriving at No 10 she is facing calls for a snap general election from Labour, who said it was “crucial” that the United Kingdom has a “democratically elected prime minister” at a time of economic and political instability. Under Duncan Smith’s successor, Michael Howard, May returned to the transport portfolio, before moving to culture, finally becoming shadow leader of the House of Commons in 2005 when David Cameron rose to the leadership.
In the latest moves to put pressure on Britain, EC economy chief Pierre Moscovici said May should trigger her country’s divorce from the European Union as soon as possible after she takes office today.
In 2012, she also introduced a fixed amount of earnings people had to earn before their spouse or child could also live with them in the UK.
While May supported Britain staying in the bloc, she cut a low profile during the referendum campaign and insists she will honor the popular vote, stressing on Monday: “Brexit means Brexit”.
As home secretary she made a name for herself with her hardline positions on immigration, which the government pledged to reduce to the tens of thousands (at the last count, net migration stood at 330,000).
May faces immediate questions on when she plans to trigger Article 50 – the formal procedure for withdrawal from the European Union – which would set a two-year deadline for completing exit negotiations.
“She will do this and she will do it well, but she will also do it carefully”, he said.
Advertisement
But Mrs May has already surprised political observers and legislators by indicating that such serious challenges won’t prevent her from pushing through a broader agenda of social reforms which could tilt her ruling centre-right Conservatives to the left of politics, and increase the pressure on the opposition Labour Party. However, the EU leadership is unlikely to agree to such a deal, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that there will be no informal pre-negotiations; and earlier today, the EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said May must “accelerate” the Brexit process and bring forward the Article 50.
