Brexit-beaten PM May to step down on June 7

London, May 24

An emotional British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday announced that she would resign as the Conservative leader on June 7 “in the best interests of the country” after she failed to win support from party lawmakers for her strategy for UK’s divorce from the European Union.

The embattled PM said she would step down as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, with a leadership contest for a new PM to kick off the following week starting June 10. She would meanwhile stay on as caretaker PM until a new incumbent has been elected by the Tories.

“I will shortly leave the job that has been the honour of my life to hold,” she said.

“The second female Prime Minister, but certainly not the last. I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love,” the 62-year-old May said.

The outgoing PM said she had kept Queen Elizabeth II informed of her exit timetable, meaning she would be presiding over US President Donald Trump’s state visit to UK from June 3.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Opposition Labour Party, said May was right to call it a day. The UK was to have left the 28-member economic bloc by March 29 but failed to meet that deadline and now faces a renewed Brexit deadline of October 31. — PTI