Former London Mayor Boris Johnson abruptly pulled out of the race to become Britain’s prime minister that he was once favored to win, upending the contest less than a week after he led a campaign to take the country out of the EU.
Johnson’s announcement, which drew gasps from a roomful of journalists and supporters Thursday, was the biggest political surprise since Prime Minister David Cameron quit after losing last week’s referendum on British membership in the bloc.
It makes interior minister Theresa May, a party stalwart who backed remaining in the European Union, the new favorite to succeed Cameron.
May, seen as a steady hand, announced her own candidacy earlier Thursday, promising to deliver the withdrawal from the EU that voters had demanded despite having campaigned for the other side.
“Brexit means Brexit,” she told a news conference. “The campaign was fought, the vote was held, turnout was high and the public gave their verdict. There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door and no second referendum.”
The decision to quit the EU has cost Britain its top credit rating, pushed the pound to its lowest level against the dollar since the mid-1980s and wiped a record $3 trillion off global shares. EU leaders are scrambling to prevent further unraveling of a bloc that helped guarantee peace in postwar Europe.
The International Monetary Fund indicated that uncertainty over Brexit would hurt economic growth in Britain, the rest of Europe and the wider world. The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said monetary policy would probably be eased over the summer.
Johnson, whose backing for the Leave cause was seen as essential to its victory, saw his leadership bid suddenly crumble after his Brexit campaign ally, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, withdrew support and announced a bid of his own.
“I must tell you, my friends, you who have waited faithfully for the punchline of this speech, that having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me,” Johnson said at the close of his speech at a London luxury hotel.
Supporters, gathered for what they thought would be the first speech of his leadership campaign, were stunned. Johnson began by hailing a “moment for hope and ambition for Britain, a time not to fight against the tide of history but to take that tide at the flood and sail on to fortune.”