Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday he would step down in two days, clearing the way for Theresa May to become Britain’s next leader as the country plots its exit from the European Union.
The announcement by Cameron came just hours after May’s only rival in the race — Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom — unexpectedly abandoned her campaign, saying the country could not afford a drawn-out political contest and needed to launch quickly into the complicated bargaining with the European Union over the split.
Cameron said he would step down on Wednesday, opening the way for May to take the keys to 10 Downing St.
“I’m delighted that Theresa May will be the next prime minister. She is strong, she is competent, she is more than able to provide the leadership that our country is going to need in the years ahead, and she will have my full support,” Cameron said.
The race to succeed Cameron was supposed to last through the summer. But Leadsom’s campaign got off to a rocky start after she touted her motherhood as an advantage in a match-up with the childless May.
The domino-style spectacle Monday was just the latest twist to a British political season that has been marked by constant surprise and upheaval.
As May takes over, she will be under pressure to trigger the country’s withdrawal from the 28-nation European Union.
The 59-year-old May will take office having never been voted into the job by anyone beyond lawmakers in the ruling Conservative Party. She will be the first female prime minister in Britain since Margaret Thatcher stepped down in 1990.
Cameron said he will chair his last cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and that on Wednesday he would attend Prime Minister’s Questions.
“After that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation so we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening,” he said.
Leadsom’s sudden withdrawal appeared to have caught May’s campaign team — and the rest of British politics — off guard.
Leadsom, a relative unknown, had advocated for a British exit from the European Union. She came under intense criticism over the weekend after suggesting to the Times of London that motherhood would make her a better fit for prime minister, and later told the Daily Telegraph that the pressure had been “shattering.” But she did not mention the controversy in her remarks Monday.
May, the country’s home affairs secretary, had campaigned for Britain to stay in the European Union. But the no-nonsense May had repeated that Britain cannot ignore the referendum outcome.
“I couldn’t be clearer: Brexit means Brexit, and we’re going to make a success of it,” she said at a campaign rally Monday morning, before Leadsom quit the race. Washington Post
