Theresa May has left 10 Downing St. for the final time as prime minister and is heading for Buckingham Palace to resign.
In a formal handover of power, May will ask Queen Elizabeth II to invite her successor Boris Johnson to form a government. Johnson will then visit the palace, and leave as Britain’s new prime minister.
May is stepping down after failing to secure lawmakers’ support for a Brexit deal and lead Britain out of the European Union.
In a final speech outside 10 Downing St. with husband Philip by her side, May said it had been “the greatest honor” to serve as Britain’s prime minister.
And she said “I hope that every young girl who has seen a woman prime minister now knows for sure there are no limits to what they can achieve.”
Senior members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s government, including her Treasury chief Philip Hammond, are resigning just hours before Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson succeeds her.
The departures clear the way for Johnson to appoint a raft of fresh faces to his government.
Justice Secretary David Gauke and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart have also resigned.
The three had previously announced they would rather leave rather than serve Johnson, who wants to leave the European Union even if no agreement is in place to ease the transition to a new relationship between Britain and the bloc. He insists that the country will leave the EU by Oct. 31 — “do or die.”
Many lawmakers worry the shock of severing decades of frictionless trade would devastate the country’s economy.
David Lidington, effectively May’s deputy prime minister, also resigned, saying it was “the right moment.” to go. He had not previously pre-announced his departure.
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