On Friday, May 24, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced her resignation saying: “I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold. 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.”
Mrs. May will continue as Prime Minister until she officially leaves her post on June 7. Her party will hold Conservative leadership contests and says it hopes to have a new leader in place by the end of July.
Brexit has dominated Mrs. May’s leadership period and in her resignation statement she said she had done everything she could to gain support for the withdrawal deal she negotiated with the European Union but it was now in the “best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort.”
The Brexit deadline for leaving the European Union remains October 31.