EMOTIONAL Theresa May was today finally prised out of her No10 bunker as she announced she is quitting as Prime Minister on June 7.
The PM was forced to resign after she failed to deliver Brexit and lost the support of her own MPs.
Shortly after meeting Tory “executioner” Sir Graham Brady, she addressed the nation in the spring sunshine of Downing Street – watched by adoring husband Philip – and admitted her time is up.
The PM confessed she now has no chance of ever getting her Brexit deal through Parliament but urged MPs to come together and deliver on the referendum, saying: “Life depends on compromise.”
Mrs May will stay in office for the next two weeks, allowing her to welcome Donald Trump to the UK on his state visit.
She will then continue as interim PM until a new Tory leader is chosen, and finally leave office in July.
As Mrs May enters her final days:
The embattled Prime Minister ran out of road this week after her Brexit deal collapsed and ally Andrea Leadsom stormed out of the Cabinet.
Her resignation fires the starting gun on the Tory leadership race, with Boris Johnson at the head of a crowded field of contenders.
But the next PM could face the same Brexit deadlock as Mrs May – with Parliament and the Tory party bitterly divided over how to move forward.
Mrs May was warned that if she didn’t quit today, Sir Graham would start the process to force her out through a new no-confidence vote.
And Cabinet ministers threatened to bring down the Government if the PM didn’t abandon her attempts to force through the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
Meanwhile the Tories face a near-total wipeout when the Euro election results are announced on Sunday night.
This morning Mrs May faced one final blow to her authority as Helen Grant resigned as Tory party vice-chair, saying she wants to be involved in the leadership race by backing Dominic Raab.
The Prime Minister wanted her legacy to be taking Britain out of the EU, before turning to the “burning injustices” of UK society.
Instead she will remembered for her stubborn refusal to compromise and inability to unite her party.
Her last-ditch bid to save the Brexit deal by offering MPs a vote on
Mrs May’s resignation will kickstart a furious race to replace her with Boris Johnson the favourite to take over.
Dominic Raab, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove are also considered frontrunners – but as many as 20 Tory MPs could throw their hats in the ring.
But the leadership election is set to be hugely divisive for the Tory party with the two different wings attacking each other over what should happen next with Brexit.
THERESA May’s resignation today kickstarts the Tory leadership election.
It’s likely that the PM will stay in place while the new leader is being chosen, rather than handing over to an interim chief such as David Lidington.
The leadership contest, overseen by backbench boss Sir Graham Brady, will take around six weeks.
Any Tory MP can enter the race, and the list of contenders is then whittled down by the parliamentary party.
MPs vote in multiple rounds, eliminating one candidate each time until just two are left.
The party’s 120,000 activists then choose behind the final shortlist of two, with the winner declared leader and Prime Minister.
When Mrs May became leader, she didn’t have to submit to a vote of members because Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the race.
So the last time activists have had a say on the leadership was 2005, when David Cameron defeated David Davis.
Today top Brexiteer Steve Baker insisted the next leader must be someone who is fully committed to our EU departure and ready to leave with No Deal.
Jacob Rees-Mogg added: “A new leader can get us out of the EU on October 31, that is in law. Once that’s happened, then we can move on to other issues.”
But the veteran Europhile Ken Clarke hit back, saying: “The idea that Conservative and DUP MPs will all come together behind a Nigel Farage-type figure is nonsense.”
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