May has infuriated hardline supporters of Britain’s break from the European Union in her Conservative Party, and they are essentially forcing her out
London — Beleaguered British Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Friday that she will resign on June 7, following a mutiny in her Conservative Party over her handling of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. May met with the leader of a group of hardline Brexit supporters from her party earlier Friday to agree a timetable to stand down and allow a successor to be chosen from amongst the Conservative ranks.
May is expected to continue as caretaker prime minister until her party elects a new leader. That internal election process will begin in the days immediately following her resignation on June 7. The leader of the party automatically becomes the prime minister.
Speaking to the nation outside her office, May said she believed that „if you give people a choice, you have a duty to implement what they decide,“ referring to the 2016 public referendum that saw the nation opt to leave the EU. „I have done my best,“ she said.
„I have done everything I can to convince MPs,“ she said, noting that she had „tried three times“ to get the deal she reached with European negotiators approved by Parliament.
„I believe it was right to persevere even where the odds against success seemed high,“ she said. „But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort.
