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Theresa May, Undone by Brexit, to Resign as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Britain’s Prime Minister, Resigns: Live Updates
(about 1 hour later)
LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain surrendered to mounting pressure from her lawmakers on Friday and said she would step aside as leader, after almost three years of trying and failing to lead Britain out of the European Union. Facing a cabinet rebellion, Theresa May announced on Friday morning her decision to leave office. She spoke briefly after meeting with Graham Brady, a powerful leader of backbench Conservative lawmakers.
Mrs. May said she would stand aside as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, but remain as prime minister until a successor was chosen. Though she still has a little more time in Downing Street, the announcement puts an end to one of the most turbulent — and at times shambolic — premierships in recent British history. Standing in front of 10 Downing Street, Mrs. May said it was in the “best interests of the country for a new prime minister” to lead Britain through the Brexit process. She announced plans to step down as the leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, with the process to replace her beginning the following week.
Her departure is likely to set off a vicious contest to succeed her within the governing Conservative Party. In truth, Mrs. May’s rivals have been jockeying for position for months as her authority ebbed and lawmakers, and ultimately cabinet ministers, mutinied. “I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice you have a duty to implement what they decide. I have done my best to do that,” she added. “I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal. Sadly, I have not been able to do so.”
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs. May acknowledged that she had been unable to persuade lawmakers to support her plan to pull Britain out of the European Union, despite her best efforts. Mrs. May’s voice cracked as she said she was honored to serve the country as the “second female prime minister, but certainly not the last,” and said the role had been the honor of her life.
“I believe I was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high,” she said. “But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort.”
Her failure to reach a deal, she said, would remain a matter of “deep regret.” Voice cracking, she noted at the end that she was “the second female prime minister, but certainly not the last.”
Conservative lawmakers have been deeply frustrated by Mrs. May’s failure to deliver on Brexit, which became the government’s central — some would say its sole — preoccupation after the country voted to leave the union in a 2016 referendum.Conservative lawmakers have been deeply frustrated by Mrs. May’s failure to deliver on Brexit, which became the government’s central — some would say its sole — preoccupation after the country voted to leave the union in a 2016 referendum.
The announcement comes at an awkward moment, with President Trump scheduled to arrive in Britain on June 3 for a state visit and to take part in events to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings that preceded the end of World War II. But the breaking point has come at an awkward moment, with President Trump scheduled to arrive in Britain on June 3 for a state visit and to take part in events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings that preceded the end of World War II.
David Cameron, the prime minister who called the 2016 referendum and campaigned to remain in the bloc, resigned the day after the vote. Mrs. May had also argued for remaining, but after emerging victorious from a brief but chaotic leadership contest, she appointed a cabinet with several leading Brexit campaigners, and set out an agenda that implied a comprehensive break with the bloc. Mrs. May’s authority was profoundly undermined in 2017, when she unexpectedly called a general election, then conducted a poor campaign and lost the majority in Parliament that she had inherited from her predecessor, David Cameron. The Conservatives remained in power with the support of a small Northern Ireland party.
Deep divisions in her Cabinet over the approach to Brexit weakened her at home. By contrast, the European Union remained remarkably unified in its negotiating strategy, and it remains doubtful that another British leader will get a deal any more palatable than the one Mrs. May agreed to.
Her ability to soak up political punishment and plow on regardless won her admiration, even from some of her many critics. But the pressure on her increased after disastrous local election results this month, when the Conservatives lost more than 1,300 seats in municipalities around the country and voters vented their frustration over the Brexit infighting and deadlock.
Then, the government announced that Britain would, after all, take part in elections to the European Parliament this week — another symbol of Mrs. May’s failure to achieve a withdrawal. Britons voted on Thursday, but the results will be announced on Sunday, after all the European Union countries have gone to the polls. They are expected to be catastrophic for the Conservatives.
David Cameron, the prime minister who called the 2016 referendum and campaigned to remain in the bloc, resigned the day after the vote. Mrs. May had also argued for remaining, but after emerging victorious from a brief but chaotic leadership contest, she appointed a cabinet with several leading Brexit campaigners and set out an agenda that implied a comprehensive break with the bloc.
She then gave herself a two-year legal deadline to complete withdrawal negotiations, only to have to postpone Britain’s exit twice after failing to persuade Parliament to accept the terms she had negotiated, painstakingly, with the European Union.She then gave herself a two-year legal deadline to complete withdrawal negotiations, only to have to postpone Britain’s exit twice after failing to persuade Parliament to accept the terms she had negotiated, painstakingly, with the European Union.
Her agreement proposed keeping Britain closely tied to the bloc at least until the end of 2020, then to extract it from the European Union’s main economic structures. Time and time again, Mrs. May survived challenges to her leadership, escaping a seemingly inevitable end to her tenure as her Brexit plans repeatedly floundered. But the final push toward Mrs. May’s ouster came this week after she rolled out the latest iteration of a Brexit deal that lawmakers had thrice rejected by large margins.
But it involved compromises — notably a promise to keep the customs and trade regulations the union deemed necessary to retain an open border between Britain and Ireland until a system is available to avoid the need for checks at the frontier. That provision — which Brexit backers said defeated the whole purpose of leaving the bloc — prompted a string of pro-Brexit lawmakers to resign from her government and many in her party to vote three times against it. Her hopes of trying once more to push her deal through Parliament were dashed after changes she unveiled on Tuesday, which opened the door to a second referendum on Brexit, were rejected by Brexiteers as a betrayal and by Remainers as simply not enough. Mrs. May had framed the changes as “one last chance” deliver on the 2016 vote to leave the European Union.
Her fall followed moves to arrange a fourth vote, this time with promises that lawmakers would also be offered choices on whether to keep Britain in a customs union with Brussels and whether to hold a further referendum on the deal. Plans to publish her new plan on Friday were quickly shelved when it became clear they managed to alienate pro- and anti-Brexit factions alike. But Mrs. May has really been on her way out since her third failed attempt to get the plan approved — on the very day in March that Britain was initially scheduled to leave the European Union. She had offered to step aside if lawmakers voted for her proposal.
That provoked a ferocious backlash from pro-Brexit supporters within the Conservative Party and prompted the resignation from the cabinet of the runner-up in the party’s last leadership contest, Andrea Leadsom, who left her post as leader of the House of Commons. Mrs. May’s departure could set off a ferocious succession contest within her governing Conservative Party, though lawmakers have been positioning themselves for this eventuality for months as her authority steadily weakened and several of her cabinet ministers stepped down.
Hard-line Brexit supporters will be determined to replace her with someone from their ranks, with the former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson; the former Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab; and Ms. Leadsom, seen as likely contenders. Several prominent Conservatives are already campaigning actively to succeed her as party leader and prime minister. Candidates for party leadership have to be nominated by two other members of Parliament, though if there is only one candidate, he or she automatically becomes the new leader. If more than two candidates emerge, lawmakers vote among themselves to narrow the field and then put two candidates to a vote by all Conservative Party members, who number approximately 120,000.
Most analysts expect a new leader to be in place by the end of July. Hard-line Brexit supporters will be determined to replace Mrs. May with someone from their ranks, with the former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson; the former Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab; and Andrea Leadsom, who left her cabinet post as leader of the House of Commons on Wednesday, seen as likely contenders.
But less ideological figures are likely to put themselves forward, too, including Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Sajid Javid, the home secretary.But less ideological figures are likely to put themselves forward, too, including Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, and Sajid Javid, the home secretary.
In March Mrs. May had already promised to step aside if Conservative lawmakers agreed to support her withdrawal plan. Then last week she accepted that she would also have to go if she failed to win support for her deal next month, when she planned to hold a fourth vote. Ellen Barry and Benjamin Mueller contributed reporting from London.
She has endured predictions of her demise since 2017, when she unexpectedly called a general election, then conducted a poor campaign and lost the majority in Parliament that she had inherited from Mr. Cameron. The Conservatives remained in power with the support of a small Northern Ireland party.
Deep divisions in her cabinet over Brexit weakened her at home. By contrast, the European Union remained remarkably unified in its negotiating strategy, and it remains doubtful that any other British leader will get a deal any more palatable than the one Mrs. May agreed to.
Her ability to soak up political punishment and plow on regardless won her admiration, even from some of her many critics.
But the pressure on her increased after disastrous local election results this month, when the Conservatives lost more than 1,300 seats in municipalities around the country and voters vented their frustration at the Brexit infighting and deadlock.
Then, the government announced that Britain would, after all, take part in elections to the European Parliament on May 23 — another symbol of Mrs. May’s failure to achieve a withdrawal.
The Conservatives can expect even worse results in those elections, which started on Thursday, because they will face a rival that did not take part in the local elections: The Brexit Party, founded by Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, who advocates a prompt and, if necessary, uncompromising and unilateral break with the union. The results of the European elections will be declared Sunday night, after voting has finished in all of the bloc’s 28 nations.
Mrs. May had hoped the European elections could be averted by agreeing to a joint Brexit plan with the opposition Labour Party, which is led by Jeremy Corbyn. Mrs. May aimed to lure Labour with the prospect that Britain could stay — at least temporarily — in a customs union with the bloc, eliminating tariffs and some border checks, as well as the promise to give lawmakers a vote on whether there should be a second referendum on any Brexit deal.
But that idea failed to produce a breakthrough with Labour, while angering rightists in her own party who hate the idea of a second referendum, and want to break free of the bloc and be able to strike independent trade deals around the world.
Though there is no shortage of candidates to replace Mrs. May, her successor is likely to confront the same problems. There appears to be no stable majority among lawmakers for any one Brexit plan, and holding a general election to change the composition of Parliament would represent a risk, given the current volatility of British politics and the anger of many Britons at their politicians.