A tearful Theresa May said Friday she’d quit after failing to deliver a Brexit deal, setting up a contest that will install a new British prime minister who could pursue a so-far elusive break from the EU.
May’s departure deepens the Brexit crisis as a new leader, who should be in place by the end of July, is likely to want a more decisive split — raising the chances of a confrontation with the EU and potentially a new parliamentary election.
Former foreign minister Boris Johnson, the favorite to replace May, said the UK should be prepared to dump the EU without an agreement in place to force the bloc to offer a “good deal.”
Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt also confirmed he would run for the leadership just hours after May, her voice cracking, said she would resign as Conservative Party leader on June 7, setting up the contest to succeed her.
“I will shortly leave the job that has been the honor of my life to hold,” May said outside her Downing Street residence with her husband, Philip, looking on.
“The second female prime minister, but certainly not the last,” she added in a nod to the first, Margaret Thatcher.
May, once a reluctant supporter of EU membership who won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 Brexit vote, steps down after failing to deliver her main promise — to lead the UK out of the bloc and heal the nation’s divisions.
“It is, and will always remain, a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit,” May said, adding that her successor would have to find a consensus to honor the 2016 referendum result.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the new prime minister must hold an election to “let the people decide our country’s future.”
The UK remains a deeply divided country with a political elite that is deadlocked over how, when or even whether to leave the EU. The latest deadline for Britain’s departure is Oct. 31.
Most of the leading contenders to succeed May want a tougher divorce deal.
But the EU has said it will not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement it sealed with Britain in November.
Spain said it now seemed almost impossible to avoid a so-called hard Brexit, or clean break from the EU.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney underlined the bloc’s stance that there would be no better Brexit deal.
“This idea that a new prime minister will be a tougher negotiator and will put it up to the EU and get a much better deal for Britain? That’s not how the EU works,” Coveney said.
Johnson, the face of the official Brexit campaign in 2016, is the favorite to succeed May, with oddsmakers giving him a 40 percent chance of winning the top job.
He made his pitch at an economic conference in Switzerland, appealing to Brexit-supporting Conservative Party members by saying: “We will leave the EU on Oct. 31, deal or no deal.”
Johnson said Britain could forge a “fantastic free trade relationship” with Europe after it quits the bloc but could also be a champion for global free trade.
Oddsmakers gave Dominic Raab, a Brexit supporter and former Brexit secretary, a 14 percent chance.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove, former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom and Hunt each have a 7 percent chance.
For many Conservative lawmakers, speed is important to install a new leader to try to break the Brexit impasse.
The governing party said it would move quickly to try to end the leadership contest before Parliament breaks for a summer holiday, a so-called recess which usually falls in late July.
“The fight for the heart and soul of the Conservative Party officially starts now,” said Andrew Bridgen, a pro-Brexit lawmaker.
“We need a new PM as soon as possible and who that is will decide the future of our democracy, our country and the Conservative Party.”
With Reuters