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:
Goldman Sachs has raised its probability estimate for a no deal Brexit from 10 per cent to 15 per cent after May’s resignation announcement opened up the possibility of a more hardline leader.
The firm’s economist Adrian Paul said it was now more likely that a no deal option would be on any second referendum ballot paper.
“We revise up our probability of “no deal” ... not because this Parliament, or indeed the next, is likely to coalesce in favour of its pursuit, but because the recent performance of the Brexit Party and the Eurosceptic credentials of the next Prime Minister may strengthen the case for including “no deal” on the ballot in a second referendum to unlock the impasse.”
More on Theresa May’s reference to the Grenfell disaster in her resignation speech. Criticising the outgoing PM, Labour MP for Kensington Emma Dent Coad said: “From the first day of her awkward visit to Grenfell, to her last day congratulating herself for failures, Theresa May should be ashamed of her actions and lack of leadership.
She said Mrs May “failed” to meet rehousing deadlines or change legislation around cladding which caused the fire to spread rapidly.
“The inquiry is so narrowly focused that it threatens to exonerate the perpetrators of this avoidable atrocity and may not give any recommendations,” she added.
“The Commission set up to decide the future of the site has divided the community. As one survivor said, “Grenfell Two is in the post”. Quite a legacy.”
Vince Cable has just announced that a formal contest to succeed him as Lib Dem leader will begin soon.
“I said earlier this year that the time would soon come to hand over the leadership of the party to a new generation … I will be proud to hand over a bigger, stronger party on July 23rd.”
Buckingham Palace has said Donald Trump's state visit next month will include a private lunch with the Queen, after which the US president and his wife will tour a special exhibition at the palace's Picture Gallery.
Mr Trump and his wife will also meet Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall for tea at Clarence House and will visit Westminster Abbey with the Duke of York.
Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, has called on UK authorities to respect the 2016 referendum result.
The politician claimed that Theresa May was forced to resign "because she tried to bypass the will expressed by the British in the Brexit referendum."
Her comments come after Czech prime minister Andrej Babis said he hoped that Britain will hold another referendum on leaving the European Union following Ms May's resignation.
Mr Babis said he thought the UK deciding to remain in the EU would be "the best for all".
Angela Merkel has said she notes Theresa May's resignation "with respect" and added that she will work closely with the prime minister's successor to deliver an orderly Brexit.
The German chancellor's spokesperson said that the two leaders had always "worked together in a good and trusting" relationship and would continue to do so while Theresa May remains in office.
"We, and the EU as a whole, are interested in a good solution being found in Britain" to the Brexit issue, and that means "an orderly exit," the spokesperson added.
More campaigners are expressing their anger over Theresa May's comments on the Grenfell Tower fire in her speech this morning.
"It's hard to think of a greater injustice in recent years than Grenfell," the campaign group Grenfell United said in a statement.
"We recognise that after her initial failings Theresa May has personally engaged with survivors and bereaved families, but two years later her personal interventions have not delivered change.
"The Government promised that 'no stone will be left unturned' in the fight for justice.
"Whoever becomes Prime Minister will inherit the moral debt owed by this Government to the families of 72 people who lost their lives."
During her speech Theresa May said the office of prime minister had granted her a platform "to give a voice to the voiceless, to fight the burning injustices that still scar our society”.
She added: “[That] it is why I set up the independent inquiry into the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, to search for the truth so nothing like it can ever happen again, and so the people who lost their lives that night are never forgotten.”
More on Donald Trump's state visit - the Press Association news agency understands that the Duke of Sussex will join the Queen when she welcomes the US president at a Buckingham Palace lunch next month.
David Cameron has said he feels "desperately sorry" for Theresa May and praised her as a "dedicated public servant."
"I know what it feels like when you come to realise that your leadership time has finished, that the country needs a new leader," the former prime minister said in an interview with the BBC.
"She worked incredibly hard on our behalf, I think she deserves our gratitude for that and this will be a very difficult day."
Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan has scoured Boris Johnson's voting record, to see what it reveals about what sort of prime minister he would be.
Mr Johnson served as MP for Henley between 2001 and 2008 and was elected to his current seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in 2015.
He is now widely regarded as the frontrunner in the race to replace Theresa May.
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