Theresa May resigns: Boris Johnson threatens no-deal Brexit as prominent Conservatives announce bids to replace PM
MPs pay tribute to ‘dignified’ prime minister as leadership race intensifies
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May announced her resignation in an emotional speech on Friday, in which she said she would stand down as Conservative party leader on 7 June.
Ms May said she had “done my best” in a speech from Downing Street, before the Tory party announced a new prime minister would be in No.10 by 31 July.
Watched by husband Philip, Ms May’s voice cracked as she said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as PM and she felt “enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love”.
In an apparent warning to the Conservative Party not to pursue a no-deal Brexit after she goes, Ms May said her successor will need to pursue compromise to find a way of delivering the result of the 2016 referendum and taking the UK out of the EU in a way that protects jobs, security and the Union.
But Tory leadership contenders are now ramping up their efforts to replace her, ahead of the official start of the contest.
Boris Johnson emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Ms May, as Jeremy Hunt and Sir Graham Brady announced they would stand.
Mr Johnson said the prime minister had been “patient and stoical” in her failed attempt to solve the Brexit crisis.
“The job of our next leader in the UK, he or she, is to get out of the EU properly and put Brexit to bed,” Mr Johnson said.
“We will leave the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal,” the former foreign secretary said, adding a second referendum on EU membership would be a “very bad idea”.
Conservative MPs also paid tribute to the dignified manner in which Theresa May announced her departure.
“Delivering Brexit was always going to be a huge task,” said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“But one she met every day with courage and resolve...a true public servant.”
Additional reporting by agencies
If you would like to see how the day’s news from Westminster unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below:
Margot James, minister for Digital and the Creative Industries has admitted that the Conservative Party membership may not be representative of the party's ordinary voters.
"Effectively the prime minister is going to be chosen by roughly 100,000 people...who don't...some would argue they don't really represent the majority of Conservative voters, let alone the country as a whole," she said, during an interview with Channel 4 News.
"The Conservative Party is labouring under the dangerous illusion that the May deal can be swiftly redrafted, and that all the difficult problems that have proved so intractable for months will be dissolved by the fact that Boris Johnson is a cleverer and more dedicated Brexiter than Ms May," The Independent's latest editorial argues.
"Wrong. Mr Johnson, when he was a more amusing fellow than he is now, said that he was “in favour of having his cake and eating it”. The EU will remind him of his little quip – and that it cannot be done."
Brexiteer John Redwood has urged MPs considering a Tory leadership run to consider their position before running.
"16 [candidates] is far too many," he said.
The politician said he hoped that there would be thinking and dealmaking in the days to come, before the leadership contest officially begins in June.
He said he would make his decision on who to back depending on the answer to the question: "How are they, three years on from the referendum now, going to get us out of the EU cleanly and sensibly?"
David Cameron spoke earlier today with BBC News about Theresa May's departure, saying he was "desperately sorry" to see the prime minister step down.
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