(LONDON) — Buckingham Palace says that Theresa May has tendered her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, clearing the way for Boris Johnson to become the new prime minister of the United Kingdom.

The monarch accepted, setting in train the handover of power.

Johnson arrived at the palace a short time later on Wednesday, having been briefly interrupted by climate protesters who formed a human chain attempting to stop his motorcade. </s> Theresa May leaves Buckingham Palace after resigning as U.K. prime minister

LONDON (AP) — Theresa May leaves Buckingham Palace after resigning as U.K. prime minister. </s> London [UK], Jun 7 (ANI): British Prime Minister Theresa May formally resigned as the head of the Conservative Party on Friday, setting off the campaign among eleven Members of Parliament to replace her, both as the party head and the country's PM.

However, May will remain the acting Prime Minister until a new leader is chosen, reports Sputnik.

In a tearful speech last month, 62-year-old May had announced that she would step down as the PM and party head, in consideration to the fact that she failed to pass her Brexit agreement in the Parliament despite repeated efforts and negotiations with the Labour Party.

At least eleven Conservative MPs are aiming to replace her, including the country's former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, and current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, among others. The candidates are required to announce formal nominations next week, starting June 10.

May assumed the Prime Minister's office in July 2016 after her predecessor and party colleague David Cameron stepped down from the post, following the Brexit referendum, which saw 52 per cent of the electorate voting in favour of the country leaving the EU.

For long, May had been making efforts to push her beleaguered agreement or an alternative withdrawal deal through the British Parliament in a bid to prevent the UK from participating in the European Parliament elections. After the deal was rejected thrice in the UK parliament, May accepted her defeat and announced her resignation.

Last month, the EU leaders agreed to delay the Brexit process to another six months, with October 31 as the new date for the UK's withdrawal from the European bloc. (ANI) </s> Theresa May today announced her resignation as Prime Minister following her battle to push through a number of Brexit deals in the Houses of Parliament.

The embattled Prime Minister will stand down from her role on June 7.

North East Herts Conservative MP, Sir Oliver Heald, told this newspaper: "I am sorry that Theresa May has had such a difficult time as Prime Minister and hope she will continue to contribute to national politics.

"She has shown great resilience and I know many constituents admire her strength, as I do.

"She is a remarkable person. The next Prime Minister will face a big task in trying to resolve Brexit."

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South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen - who left the Conservatives as a result of the party's policy on Brexit and is now the leader of Change UK - took to Twitter and said: "Oh Theresa May, why didn't we see that emotion more? Things could have been so different."

In her speech, Mrs May said: "I negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbours that protects jobs, security and our union.

"I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal, sadly I have not been able to do so, 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 interest of the country for a new Prime Minister to lead that effort, so I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist party on Friday, June 7, so that a successor can be chosen.

"I will shortly leave the job that has been the honour 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." </s> Theresa May has arrived at Buckingham Palace to seek permission from the Queen to form a new government. It comes just hours after it was revealed that the Prime Minister had lost her Commons majority in the General Election, which resulted in a hung parliament. Mrs May faces ending up with 12 fewer seats than when she called the election. She is seeking to stay in office on the understanding that the Democratic Unionists of Northern Ireland will support her minority administration.

Theresa May leaves Downing Street to meet the Queen

The DUP, who are the largest unionist political party in Northern Ireland, said their desire to form a coalition with Mrs May is driven by concerns about Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. No party has an overall majority; the Conservatives remain the largest party with 318 seats so far while Labour currently have 261 - with 326 required for a majority and just one seat left to be called.

The Prime Minister was met by a sea of cameras as she left her official residence

STORY: Can the Queen vote in a General Election?

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, has called for the Prime Minister to resign following the election result. He told the BBC: "The Prime Minister called this election because she wanted a mandate. Well the mandate she's got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence. I would have thought that's enough to go, actually, and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this country."

STORY: What is a hung parliament? And what happens next?

However, Mrs May has signalled that she intends to continue as Prime Minister, stating that the country needs "stability" with the start of the Brexit negotiations just ten days away. It's thought that her meeting with the Queen will last for around 40 minutes, after which she will make a statement outside Downing Street. </s> U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May To Step Down June 7

Updated at 5:49 a.m. ET

Theresa May will step down as prime minister of the United Kingdom on June 7, she said Friday at No. 10 Downing St.

She came to the job in 2016 after U.K. voters backed plans to exit the European Union in a referendum. For the following three years, she attempted to navigate the difficult and complex process of making that happen.

"I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice, you have a duty to implement what they decide," she said. "I have done my best to do that."

But she encountered ongoing opposition in the British Parliament, which repeatedly rejected her proposals to withdraw the U.K. from the EU.

"I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high," May said Friday. "But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interest of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort. So I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party on Friday the 7th of June so that a successor can be chosen."

May said the process for electing a new leader "should begin in the following week."

She said she informed the queen that she will continue to serve as prime minister until the process is completed. Reports from Reuters say that process could take six weeks, with May serving as a so-called caretaker prime minister.

"It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit. It will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honors the result of the referendum," May said.

Lawmakers in her Conservative Party had been pressuring her to resign and let a new leader see through the U.K.'s laborious planned withdrawal from the European Union.

On Thursday, May delayed plans to publish her latest bill to officially withdraw the U.K. from the EU. Parliament had already rejected May's earlier agreements negotiated with the EU three times this year.

Her latest withdrawal bill "tried to win over various interest groups by offering something for everyone: strengthened workers' rights to please the Labour left, an option for MPs to vote for a second referendum to entice Remainers," according to The Economist, which said the prime minister instead "ended up alienating them all."

There would have been "overwhelming pressure" for a no-confidence vote in May's leadership if she had not agreed on a departure date, Conservative lawmaker Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said earlier.

Adding to the pressure, the U.K. voted in European Parliament elections on Thursday, and the Conservatives are expected to do poorly when results are announced Sunday. A new Brexit Party, led by Brexiteer Nigel Farage, was leading polls.

President Trump is set to visit the U.K. from June 3-5. May had not wanted Trump's visit and D-Day anniversary celebrations "to be undermined by the unseemly spectacle of Tory MPs and ministers scrabbling and scrambling to replace her," according to ITV's Robert Peston.

Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary, is seen as the current front-runner to take May's place. Johnson was a leader of the Brexit campaign in 2016.

In March, May offered to quit if Parliament were to pass her Brexit plan, but even that wasn't enough.

In April, the EU agreed to extend the U.K.'s deadline for passing a Brexit deal until Oct. 31. </s> Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II looks at a painting of Queen Victoria inspecting wounded Coldstream Guardsmen, 1855, by artist John Gilbert, as part of the exhibition to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, for the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace, London, Wednesday July 17, 2019. Queen Elizabeth toured the exhibition featuring the story of her great-grandmother Queen Victoria. (Victoria Jones/Pool via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has seen this production before. Before Wednesday, the monarch has had 13 people form a government for her since becoming queen in 1952. That means Boris Johnson was the 14th prime minister of her reign so far. Here’s a look at the British power handover:

After being applauded by Downing Street staff, Prime Minister Theresa May traveled the mile (1.6 km) to Buckingham Palace to resign and asked the monarch to invite fellow Conservative Johnson to form a new government.

May entered the palace as the nation’s leader but upon departing she was just a lawmaker for her Maidenhead constituency, joining the 649 other lawmakers in the House of Commons.

May is one of Britain’s shortest-serving prime ministers in the last 100 years. Her premiership has lasted a total of 1,106 days — enough to outrun just six of the 22 people to have been prime minister since the start of the last century.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

After her visit to the queen, May did not return to 10 Downing St., a Georgian residence in London with approximately 100 rooms just a few minutes’ walk from Parliament.

Johnson, on the other hand, went to see the queen shortly after May left Buckingham Palace. He then returned to No. 10 as the country’s new prime minister and outlined his vision for the future in a rousing speech Wednesday afternoon that promised to deliver Brexit by Oct 31 with “no ifs, ands or buts.” Resignations and firings of government ministers and top officials then went on for hours.

With the revolving door of government spinning, one key member of the Downing Street team will stay on the job: Larry the Cat.

The 12-year-old tabby is the government’s official Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. Larry’s Twitter feed proudly notes that he’s been in office longer than the current leader of any U.K. political party.

Larry’s tenure in office began with former Prime Minister David Cameron, who tired of television crews spotting mice on the doorstep. Cameron and his family picked out Larry at a London animal shelter.

The gleaming black door of No. 10 Downing Street offers the backdrop for Larry’s daily catwalk, but since appearing on the street he has also been photographed in less glamorous poses. He’s also known for catfights with Palmerston, the chief mouser at the nearby Foreign Office.

Some in government just never get along.

For more on AP’s Brexit coverage, https://www.apnews.com/Brexit </s> EMBATTLED UK prime minister Theresa May has had a turbulent day of high profile ministerial resignations and backlash against the deal.

EMBATTLED UK prime minister Theresa May has had a turbulent day of high profile ministerial resignations and backlash against the deal.

Theresa May has turbulent day of high-profile resignations and backlash

It is reported that Mrs May has offered the job of Brexit secretary to Michael Gove - his decision is believed by many to be key to the survival of the Tory leader.

Today letters to the 1922 Committee have been pouring in seeking a 'no confidence' vote in Mrs May - there must be 48 to trigger such a vote.

Meanwhile, European Council President Donald Tusk has signalled that he still hopes Brexit can be averted but said the EU is prepared if there is a "no-deal scenario".

Speaking as chaos continues in Westminster over the proposed Withdrawal Agreement wiht the UK, Mr Tusk said the EU "is prepared for a final deal with the United Kingdom in November."

He also told reporters in Brussels that; "We are also prepared for a no-deal scenario but of course we are best prepared for a no-Brexit scenario."

After a days of resignations among her ministers, British Prime Minister Theresa May is due to give a press conference at 5pm.

Earlier, the British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and three other ministers resigned over Theresa May's Brexit deal, in a massive blow to her plans.

Mr Raab, who only took over in the summer after David Davis resigned in protest over the British Prime Minister's withdrawal strategy, said he "cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU".

His surprise departure on Thursday came amid a furious backlash from Brexit-backing Conservatives to the deal agreed by UK and EU negotiators four months ahead of the UK's scheduled withdrawal on March 29.

Hours earlier Shailesh Vara had quit as minister of state for Northern Ireland, saying Mrs May's agreement, "leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation".

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has handed in his letter of no-confidence to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, saying Ms May's Brexit deal "has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the Prime Minister".

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Raab said the deal represented a "very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom" because of provisions for Northern Ireland.

He also said he could not accept "an indefinite backstop arrangement" for the Irish border.

He said: "No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement."

The work and pensions secretary Esther McVey has also stepped down on Thursday morning.

She said the Brexit deal “does not honour the result of the referendum”.

In a resignation letter posted on Twitter, Ms McVey cited concerns over the future of the Union and a lack of control over money, law, borders and trade policy under a deal she felt kept the UK too close to Brussels.

She wrote: "The British people have always been ahead of politicians on this issue, and it will be no good trying to pretend to them that this deal honours the result of the referendum when it is obvious to everyone that it doesn't.

"We have gone from no deal is better than a bad deal, to any deal is better than no deal.

"I cannot defend this, and I cannot vote for this deal. I could not look my constituents in the eye were I to do that.

"I therefore have no alternative but to resign from the Government."

Suella Braverman has also resigned as a Brexit minister, her office said.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Education, saying she cannot support the Brexit deal after negotiations “built on the UK trying to appease the EU”.

Mr Raab added: "Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election.

"This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust."

Ms May is due to hold a press conference at 5pm.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said there may not be “a majority for any way forward in Westminster” as UK minsters resign over the Brexit deal.

Taking questions on the draft deal in the Dáil, Mr Coveney said it would “protect Ireland’s core interests now and into the future”.

He praised the work of Irish diplomats involved in the negotiations over the past two years, saying they did an “extraordinary job to build and maintain EU unity around many off the Irish vulnerabilities”.

And he said the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier had shown “extraordinary capacity to understand the detail” of the Irish concerns.

Asked by Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien about the instability in the UK government, Mr Coveney replied: “Of course there are challenges to selling any package in United Kingdom.

“Many people would say there isn’t a majority for any way forward in Westminister.”

But he added that British Prime Minister Theresa May has “shown a capacity to get things done in very difficult circumstances”.

Mr O’Brien questioned whether the Government had been too triumphalist in their public statements since the deal was published.

“The time for victory and celebration is when this draft agreement is ratified and satisfied by all,” he said, adding that “every statement being made in Ireland is being scrutinised”.

However, Mr Coveney rejected this claim. He argued that the Government had a duty to explain what was in the deal to the Irish people.

The Minister said he was giving “reassurance” to people who were “very sceptical that a deal could be done” to maintain open trade on this island.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mrs May spoke by phone this morning, Independent.ie has learned.

It is understood Mr Varadkar offered the embattled PM his “support” amid a string of ministerial resignations in Westminster.

They pledged to “work together” on the future relationship between the UK and EU so that the Irish backstop “never needs to be invoked”.

Earlier, the Brexit deal that ensures no hard Border on this island was hailed as a major victory for Ireland.

While Mr Varadkar said Brexit is "something we regret", he insisted the best possible Withdrawal Agreement has been negotiated.

He said other EU members had taken on Irish concerns and helped protect the peace process, the common travel area and our economy.

"This is one of the better days in politics," he said.

Mr Varadkar praised Mrs May for being "true to her word" by ensuring there will be no hard Border.

Andrea Leadsom has insisted she has no plans to quit the Government and will support Theresa May in securing a Brexit deal.

The Commons Leader, who attends the UK Cabinet as part of her role, hit back after her SNP counterpart Pete Wishart joked she had upset his "Brexit resignation bingo coupon", adding: "I had her definitely down as a resigner."

Mrs Leadsom replied: "Normally I'm very happy to entertain (Mr Wishart's) banter but I think all he's done today is to demonstrate he's not very good at bingo."

She added: "I am staying in Government because there is more work to be done to get the Brexit that the Prime Minister wants to deliver to the people, and therefore I am determined to support her to do that.

"Now, him bantering about it and mocking it is all very well, but he doesn't suggest anything else and his party has form for ignoring the will of a referendum in Scotland that voted to stay in the United Kingdom.

"What are they doing sitting there? All they want to do is break up the United Kingdom, and against the will of Scottish fishers keep them in the Common Fisheries Policy. How much sense does that make?"

The pair's exchanges came at business questions and amid the backdrop of Cabinet resignations over Mrs May's draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.

However, there will now be major concerns that the ministerial resignations in London will be followed by more in the British Cabinet - meaning that any deal Brexit will once again be up in the air.

Representatives from the SDLP, Sinn Fein, Alliance and the Northern Ireland Green Party have arrived at the Department of the Taoiseach in Dublin for a meeting with Mr Varadkar to discuss the draft Brexit agreement.

SDLP leader Colm Eastwood said: "It will be a difficult few days for Theresa May but we need to focus on the positive and make sure the backstop is backed."

The resignations came as European Council president Donald Tusk announced an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on November 25, at which the withdrawal agreement and a political declaration on future relations will be finalised and formalised.

Westminster is braced for further resignations, amid widespread expectations that the British Prime Minister may face a challenge to her position from Conservative MPs submitting letters of no confidence in her leadership.

Mr Raab had been a surprise choice as Brexit Secretary when Mr Davis, along with foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit minister Steve Baker, resigned in protest at Mrs May's Chequers plan in July.

As the UK's ministerial point man in negotiations he made repeated trips to Brussels for talks with EU negotiator Michel Barnier as he and civil servants tried to hammer out a workable withdrawal agreement.

The pound fell heavily against most major currencies after his resignation. Sterling dropped 1.1pc to 1.28 US dollars and was 1.2pc lower at 1.13 euros.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said the Government was "falling apart before our eyes as, for a second time, the Brexit Secretary has refused to back the Prime Minister's Brexit plan".

"This is the 20th minister to resign from Theresa May's Government in her two-year premiership," he said.

"Theresa May has no authority left and is clearly incapable of delivering a Brexit deal that commands even the support of her Cabinet, let alone Parliament and the people of our country."

Remain-supporting Tory MP Anna Soubry added on Twitter that Mr Raab's resignation "marks the end of PMs Withdrawal Agreement" and possibly her premiership.

Ms Soubry added: "No PM deserves to be so badly treated.

"Raab signed up to her Withdrawal Agreement allowing her to make her statement after Cabinet knowing he'd resign in time for the 9am News bulletins the next morning. Shameful."

Mrs May now faces a battle to get it through Parliament as pro-Leave Conservative MPs - as well as some Remainers - lined up to condemn the plan, accusing her of breaking promises and leaving the UK at the mercy of Brussels.

In a resignation statement, North-West Cambridgeshire MP Mr Vara - who was promoted by Mrs May as recently as July - said: "We are a proud nation and it is a say day when we are reduced to obeying rules made by other countries who have shown that they do not have our best interests at heart.

"We can and must do better than this. The people of the UK deserve better."

Mr Vara, a former Conservative vice chairman who has served as a whip and on the frontbenches for the bulk of his career since entering Parliament in 2005, backed Remain in the 2016 referendum.

In Brussels, Mr Tusk was handed a copy of the 585-page withdrawal agreement by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Ministers and ambassadors of the remaining 27 EU states will work to finalise by next Tuesday the political declaration on future relations with the UK, published in outline form on Wednesday, he said.

Welcoming the UK Cabinet's collective agreement to accept the withdrawal document, Mr Tusk said: "Of course, I do not share the Prime Minister's enthusiasm about Brexit as such.

"Since the very beginning, we have had no doubt that Brexit is a lose-lose situation and our negotiations are only about damage control."

And he sent a message to the British people: "As much as I am sad to see you leave, I will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible, both for you and for us." </s> ANDREA Leadsom has sensationally resigned from her position in Theresa May's cabinet.

The leader of the House of Commons has tweeted to say she has quit her post in defiance at Theresa May's refusal to stand down. She wrote: "It is with great regret and a heavy heart that I have decided to resign from the Government." According to sources, Leadsom had been preparing to mount a leadership bid to become Prime Minister as soon as the PM announced her departure. But May managed to cling on tonight, refusing to meet a furious cabinet and saying she will even be out campaigning tomorrow.

Leadsom herself ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party in the wake of the referendum to leave the European Union that saw David Cameron resign as Prime Minister. But a gaffe-prone campaign saw her lose the race, with Theresa May eventually becoming PM. However, in a stinging resignation letter, the top Tory said she urged May to "make the right decisions in the interests of the country [and] this Government", adding: “I no longer believe that our approach will deliver on the referendum result”. She also said her decision to quit was over Brexit, stating that she no longer thinks the Government can deliver on the result of the referendum and blasting the PM's decision to offer a second vote.

It seems May's premiership is now all but over tonight as ministers line up to criticise her disastrous handling of Brexit. Explaining the timing of her resignation the night before the UK goes to the polls in the European elections, she said: "I considered carefully the timing of this decision, but I cannot fulfil my duty as Leader of the House tomorrow, to announce a Bill with new elements that I fundamentally oppose. "I fully respect the integrity, resolution and determination that you have shown during your time as Prime Minister." It now looks as though Theresa May could resign on Friday, with a meeting with the Conservatives' ruling 1922 Committee scheduled.

Sources inside Whitehall are now saying she has merely bought herself another 36 hours, but that her departure is still imminent. There is also speculation that she has delayed quitting until after the EU election so that she can take some of the blame if the Conservative Party does disastrously. It is believed she might do that to give the Tories some chance of bouncing back in the polls.
Theresa May visits Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace to officially resign and recommend her replacement as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.