Chapter One
Theresa May officially stepped down
Theresa May officially stepped down as PRIME MINISTER and Tory leader June 7, 2019.
Theresa May has officially stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party on Friday, but will remain as prime minister until her successor is chosen. She announced her resignation two weeks ago, saying it was a matter of deep regret that she had been unable to deliver Brexit.
Eleven Conservative MP's are vying to replace her as party leader and, ultimately, prime minister.
The winner of the contest is expected to be announced in the week of 22 July. Mrs. May remains acting party leader during the leadership election process.
THERESA MAY ANNOUNCING HER RESIGNATION FRIDAY MAY 24TH, 2019
Theresa May announced her resignation this morning in Downing Street (pictured) after months of pressure over her Brexit negotiations
The British Prime Minister, Theresa May announced on Friday May 24th, 2019 that she will resign on June 7, following a mutiny in her Conservative Party over her handling of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. May met with the leader of a group of hardline Brexit supporters from her party earlier Friday to agree a timetable to stand down and allow a successor to be chosen from amongst the Conservative ranks.
May is expected to continue as caretaker prime minister until her party elects a new leader. That internal election process will begin in the days immediately following her resignation on June 7. The leader of the party automatically becomes the prime minister.
Speaking to the nation outside her office, May said she believed that "if you give people a choice, you have a duty to implement what they decide," referring to the 2016 public referendum that saw the nation opt to leave the EU. "I have done my best," she said.
"I have done everything I can to convince MP's," she said, noting that she had "tried three times" to get the deal she reached with European negotiators approved by Parliament.
"I believe it was right to persevere even where 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." May said "I deeply regret" being unable to deliver on the Brexit commitment.
"I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold,"
she said. "The second female prime minister, but certainly not the last."
Choking up with tears, May continued: "I do so with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."
The reaction of world and opinion leaders
Theresa May's resignation may have made a no deal Brexit impossible to stop, Spain has warned.
Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said that a cliff-edge exit now appeared inevitable unless a new PM can pass a deal by October 31.
'Under these circumstances, a hard Brexit appears to be a reality that is near impossible to stop', she said, adding that the withdrawal deal agreed by Mrs. May was now unlikely to get through Parliament.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Brussels would not renegotiate the exit deal with Britain while France said a new PM would have to explain quickly what they wanted.
Dutch premier Mark Rutte (pictured voting in The Hague in the European elections) said the Brexit withdrawal deal would not be renegotiated with a new British PM
'The withdrawal agreement is not up for renegotiation,' Rutte told a news conference in The Hague, adding that 'the problem was not Theresa May' but Britain's strict red lines for any deal.
'I phoned her at once this morning, I told her that I thought what she did in the past years was brave and that she worked under incredibly difficult circumstances to deliver a Brexit,' he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron sent Mrs May a 'personal message of support', praising her for a 'courageous effort' in trying to pass a deal.
But Paris said the new British leader would have to provide a 'rapid clarification' of their Brexit strategy.
'Our relations with the United Kingdom are critical in all areas. It is too early to speculate on the consequences of May's decision,' Macron's office said.
Macron's 2017 election opponent Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, claimed Mrs May had to go 'because she tried to bypass the will expressed by the British in the Brexit referendum'.
There were also calls from the Czech prime minister for Britain to hold a second referendum and stay in the EU.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured in Paris) said Britain had to provide a 'rapid clarification' of what it wanted on Brexit
Andrej Babis said he hoped British voters would 'finally understand that the misinformation that that they received [about Brexit] is not true'.
He praised the UK as one of the best allies of his country in the bloc because 'it's a big state that counterbalances the dominance of Germany and France.'
German chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) said she had worked well with Theresa May but 'respected' the British PM's decision to quit Berlin would do everything possible to ensure a good partnership with Britain and an orderly Brexit 'regardless of this
