Theresa May will take over as new British Prime Minister on Wednesday to become the country’s first woman leader in more than a quarter of a century since Margaret Thatcher after her only rival in the race to become Conservative Party’s leader pulled out unexpectedly.
Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said he will chair his last Cabinet meeting tomorrow and attend House of Commons for his last Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his official resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
“We will have a new Prime Minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening,” Cameron told reporters outside 10 Downing Street.
“I am delighted Theresa May will be Prime Minister. She has the overwhelming support of the Conservative parliamentary party…she is strong, she is competent, she is more than able to provide the leadership that our country is going to need in the years ahead,” said Cameron.
He had announced he would be stepping down for a new prime minister to take the Brexit negotiations forward with the European Union a day after the June 23 vote in favour of Britain leaving the economic bloc.
Who is Theresa May?
The Oxford graduate is among longest-serving home secretaries in British history and has long been regarded as a potential future leader of the party. Her political stock rose when, in 2013, she succeeded where many other home secretaries before her had failed and successfully deported radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan.
Second lady after Margaret Thatcher to become the PM
59-year-old May, who would become Britain’s second female Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher, made a statement outside the Houses of Parliament here soon after saying she is “honoured and humbled” to be chosen as leader of the Tory.
She paid tribute to Cameron for his “leadership” and other Tory party leadership contenders. “Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it. We need to unite our country… we are going to give people more control over their lives and that is how we will build a better Britain,” she, who is currently the home secretary said in her first speech.
The Prime Minister designate said she wants “best deal for Britain” with EU. Earlier today, May’s only rival Andrea Leadsom pulled out from the two-way contest for the Conservative party leadership in a dramatic move, leaving May sole contender.
Leadsom, who was energy minister in the Cameron-led Cabinet, threw her support behind May as “ideally placed” to enforce the vote for Brexit in last months referendum on Britains membership of the European Union (EU).
“The interests of our country are best served from the immediate appointment of a strong and well-supported Prime Minister. I am therefore withdrawing from the leadership election and I wish Theresa May the very greatest success.I assure her of my full support,” Leadsom told reporters.
“The best interests of our country inspired me to stand for our leadership. I believe in leaving the EU a bright future awaits. The referendum result represented a clear desire for change,” the 53-year-old senior Tory MP said.