UK Prime Minister Theresa May finally gave in to the intense political pressure over her failure to secure Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, announcing her resignation in an emotional address to the nation on Friday.
Standing at a lectern in Downing Street, May said she deeply regretted not being able to deliver Brexit, the issue that brought her to power in 2016 and which consumed her premiership in the three years since.
May said she would quit as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, but would stay on as Prime Minister until a successor is chosen. That process will be completed by the end of July, her party said.
In her speech, May said she had done everything she could to convince Members of Parliament (MPs) to back her thrice-rejected Brexit deal, but acknowledged that she had failed.
“I tried three times. I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high. 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,” she said.
“It is, and will always remain, a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit.”
May said it would be down to her successor to find consensus where she could not, and urged all sides to compromise. “I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honor of my life to hold — the second female Prime Minister but certainly not the last,” May said, her voice cracking with emotion.
“I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love,” she said, bursting into tears as she left the lectern and walked back into Number 10.
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