Fighting off tears after rattling off her accomplishments and thanking the people of the UK for the ‘honor of a lifetime’, Theresa May said Friday that she will resign on Friday, June 7 – two weeks from now – after a rebellion within the conservative party finally forced her to step down.
May, the second – but certainly not the last – female prime minister in the UK, will abandon her supremely unpopular withdrawal agreement instead of trying to force it through the Commons for the fourth time.
Though May will stay on as caretaker until a new leader can be chosen, the race to succeed May begins now…odds are that a ‘Brexiteer’ will fill the role. Whatever happens, the contest should take a few weeks, and afterwards May will be on her way back to Maidenhead.
“It is and will always remain a deep regret for me that I was not able to deliver Brexit…I was not able to reach a consensus…that job will now fall to my successor,” May said.
Between now and May’s resignation, May still has work to do: President Trump will travel to the UK for a state visit, while Europe will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
The pound’s reaction was relatively muted, as May’s decision to step down had been telegraphed well in advance.
Watch May’s remarks below:
The discussion now turns to whom May’s successor might be. Here’s a list of likely candidates courtesy of the Independent.
- Boris Johnson, former foreign secretary
- Andrea Leadsom, former Commons leader
- Sajid Javid, home secretary
- Jeremy Hunt, foreign secretary
- Michael Gove, environment secretary
- Dominic Raab, former Brexit secretary
- Matt Hancock, health secretary
Boris Johnson, who resigned as May’s foreign secretary back in July over May’s “Chequers Deal” – the first outline of what would evolve into the withdrawal agreement. The leadership election process takes four-to-six weeks, which means we won’t know who will be the next PM until mid-summer. Ultimately, registered Tories from across the UK will choose the next PM in a UK-wide vote.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2YSxX8L Tyler Durden