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:
As Theresa May’s premiership appears to be drawing to a close, the Press Association has produced a possible timetable for the Conservative Party contest to replace her.
When will Theresa May leave office?
Having announced that she will stand down, Mrs May could continue as a lame duck premier until the Tories choose a new leader.
When David Cameron resigned following the referendum result in June 2016, the contest was originally planned to end in early September that year - but Mrs May was the last candidate standing and became Prime Minister on 13 July.
With the deadline on the withdrawal deal brokered by Mrs May and the EU set to expire on 31 October, the decision may be whether to have a short race in order to give the new leader time to find an agreement that could unite a party at war with itself.
How would a leadership contest work?
Candidates must be nominated by two Conservative MPs. If only one candidate comes forward, he or she becomes leader, but a coronation appears unlikely given the crowded field of leadership hopefuls already jostling for position.
The list of candidates is whittled down to a shortlist of two in a series of votes by Conservative MPs. The final pair then go to a postal ballot of all party members, with the position of leader - and prime minister - going to the victor.
How long would that take?
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, would be responsible for overseeing the contest and setting a timetable for the campaign, which would be expected to last around 12 weeks - although given the pressing need to get on with the Brexit process, that could be shortened.
A new leader is likely to be in place for the Conservative Party conference in Manchester starting on 29 September.
Tory grandee Ken Clarke – Father of the House – has said a majority of Conservative MPs probably didn’t even vote for their own party at the European elections.
“I don’t know what we scored in yesterday’s European elections but it doesn’t look as though we got 10 per cent of the vote because there didn’t seem to be any reason to vote Conservative … I suspect the majority of Conservative MPs didn’t vote Conservative yesterday.”
“We are going to have a chaotic six weeks now,” he said of a leadership contest. “We’ve got to make sure the whole thing is conducted in a way that doesn’t add to the sense of tragic farce.”
What happens when Theresa May finally quits? Let our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish guide you through the machinations of the days and weeks ahead.
Beth Rigby, Sky News’ political editor, reporting that Theresa May will make an announcement after meeting the head of the 1922 committee at 9am.
With Theresa May set to step down, here are the top Tory runners and riders vying to become the next prime minister.
As we await the outcome of Theresa May’s meeting with Sir Graham Brady, voting has begun in the Republic of Ireland as the country chooses its members for the next European Parliament.
Local council elections are also being held on Friday, as is a referendum on divorce laws - with a Yes set to reduce the lengthy period separated couples have to wait before they can obtain a formal divorce.
Voters in Cork, Waterford and Limerick will also be able to participate in separate plebiscites on government proposals to create directly elected city mayoral positions with executive functions.
Counting in the local elections and divorce referendum will begin on Saturday morning.
The Republic is set to receive two of the 27 places formerly reserved for the UK which are being redistributed among 14 member states, depending on the outcome of Brexit.
Helen Grant, the Conservative vice chair for Communities, has resigned from the position in order to “actively and openly” support one of the new leadership candidates, she said on Twitter. She has picked quite a moment to do so, with a major announcement from Theresa May expected imminently.
The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith says Theresa May has “reached the conclusion that she can’t go on, because the political reality is her Brexit deal is dead”. He also says the prime minister believed she could “fight on” as recently as yesterday.
One of Theresa May’s closest allies, Damian Green, has paid tribute to her as her departure draws closer.
Her former de facto deputy Damian Green said a difficult hand to play was made impossible by losing her majority in the snap general election.
“Suddenly and unexpectedly becoming Prime Minister after the seismic shock of the Brexit referendum meant she was dealt an extremely difficult hand to play,” he told the Today programme.
“The truth is, having an election a year later, which cut the Conservative Party’s majority, then at that point it is impossible.”
Mr Green added she could not recover from the resignation of former Brexit secretary David Davis last July. “I think the key point where it went off the rails was when David Davis resigned from Cabinet.
“I think being able to have a deal that kept him and probably Boris Johnson inside would have made all the difference - that seems to have been the turning point.”
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