Theresa May announced her resignation in an emotional speech on Friday, in which she said she would stand down as Conservative party leader on 7 June.
Ms May said she had “done my best” in a speech from Downing Street, before the Tory party announced a new prime minister would be in No.10 by 31 July.
Watched by husband Philip, Ms May’s voice cracked as she said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as PM and she felt “enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love”.
In an apparent warning to the Conservative Party not to pursue a no-deal Brexit after she goes, Ms May said her successor will need to pursue compromise to find a way of delivering the result of the 2016 referendum and taking the UK out of the EU in a way that protects jobs, security and the Union.
But Tory leadership contenders are now ramping up their efforts to replace her, ahead of the official start of the contest.
Boris Johnson emerged as the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Ms May, as Jeremy Hunt and Sir Graham Brady announced they would stand.
Mr Johnson said the prime minister had been “patient and stoical” in her failed attempt to solve the Brexit crisis.
“The job of our next leader in the UK, he or she, is to get out of the EU properly and put Brexit to bed,” Mr Johnson said.
“We will leave the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal,” the former foreign secretary said, adding a second referendum on EU membership would be a “very bad idea”.
Conservative MPs also paid tribute to the dignified manner in which Theresa May announced her departure.
“Delivering Brexit was always going to be a huge task,” said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“But one she met every day with courage and resolve...a true public servant.”
Additional reporting by agencies
If you would like to see how the day’s news from Westminster unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below:
Theresa May’s private meeting with Sir Graham, chairman of the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, could be the moment that Mrs May sets the date for her exit from Downing Street.
A 1922 Committee source has told the Press Association they expected 10 June to be the day Mrs May chooses.
“Hopefully what will happen is she will stand down as Tory leader I think on or before June 10, and she will hopefully remain as caretaker Prime Minister until such time as a new Tory leader is elected,” they said.
“My feeling is that she will stay until June 10.”
The source said a new leader would ideally be in place by the end of the summer to get a Brexit deal through Parliament before 31 October, the date currently set for the UK's exit from the European Union.
Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has been a key ally of Theresa May, so his decision to pull support for her efforts to bring back the Brexit deal was a huge blow.
Here’s political editor Andrew Woodcock on how the bill was finally killed off.
Jeremy Hunt urges May to kill off her Brexit bill
Prime minister pressed to name date for her departure in showdown with men in grey suitsPoliticians are waiting for the results of European elections which Theresa May hoped would never have to be held – and which could deliver a hugely damaging blow to the Tory party.
Results of the European contests will not start being announced until after 10pm on Sunday night but opinion polls have suggested Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is on course for victory in the elections.
Meanwhile the election watchdog said it was aware of reports that EU citizens had been unable to vote in the UK – and blamed the late notice from Ms May’s government that the poll would be going ahead.
Both Ms May and Jeremy Corbyn are braced for a backlash from voters, with the Liberal Democrats expected to pick up votes.
Seventy-three MEPs will be elected to represent the UK, with England, Scotland and Wales using a form of proportional representation called the D’Hondt system and Northern Ireland using the single transferable vote method.
The government could face court action after hundreds of EU citizens were turned away from polling stations and denied a vote in the European selections, experts have warned.
The hashtag #DeniedMyVote began trending on Twitter as it was flooded with accounts of EU citizens being prevented from voting after confusion among election officials.
Here’s Chiara Giordano with all the details.
Government could face court action after EU citizens ‘denied vote’, experts warn
'If EU citizens are being asked to fill out additional forms that UK nationals are not, that’s discrimination'Tory MEP Daniel Hannan doesn’t think there will be any Tory MEPs left after the European elections.
Former minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said he could vote for Boris Johnson to take over from Theresa May. Burt said he didn’t expect Johnson – or any other candidate – to advocate a no deal exit from the EU in the imminent leadership campaign.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I would find it very difficult to support a candidate who said it was in Britain’s best interest to leave with no deal, leave straight away, WTO … I don’t expect any candidate really to say that.”
Ukip’s deputy leader Mike Hookem has quit and said he will run for party leader.
He said he can no longer support the direction of current boss Gerard Batten and will launch a leadership contest on 2 June.
In a letter sent to party officials at the close of polls in the European elections, Mr Hookem said: “Mr Batten’s policy direction and associations have given the mainstream media the ammunition to label our party “extreme” and “far-right”, accusations I do not believe to be true.”
Mr Batten has been Ukip leader for 16 months and appointed former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson as an advisor in November 2018.
The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg has said the “frenzied beauty parade” of a Tory leadership contest will “probably” begin on 10 June, suggesting Theresa May would be stepping down as party leader on that date.
Kuenssberg said there were more than a dozen MPs, including Andrea Leadsom, Matthew Hancock and Michael Gove, but described Boris Johnson as the “clear frontrunner”.
“Boris Johnson, who has never been a busted flush, even though many of his colleagues have wished it was so, [is] well out in front at the moment … But what I would say is that these races can be extremely unpredictable.”
More on Tory MEP Daniel Hannan’s predictions for the European elections from our Europe correspondent Jon Stone.
Tories will win 'zero seats' in unprecedented wipeout, Brexiteer Tory MEP Daniel Hannan predicts
Tories heading for worst national election result in historyAs Theresa May’s premiership appears to be drawing to a close, the Press Association has produced a possible timetable for the Conservative Party contest to replace her.
When will Theresa May leave office?
Having announced that she will stand down, Mrs May could continue as a lame duck premier until the Tories choose a new leader.
When David Cameron resigned following the referendum result in June 2016, the contest was originally planned to end in early September that year - but Mrs May was the last candidate standing and became Prime Minister on 13 July.
With the deadline on the withdrawal deal brokered by Mrs May and the EU set to expire on 31 October, the decision may be whether to have a short race in order to give the new leader time to find an agreement that could unite a party at war with itself.
How would a leadership contest work?
Candidates must be nominated by two Conservative MPs. If only one candidate comes forward, he or she becomes leader, but a coronation appears unlikely given the crowded field of leadership hopefuls already jostling for position.
The list of candidates is whittled down to a shortlist of two in a series of votes by Conservative MPs. The final pair then go to a postal ballot of all party members, with the position of leader - and prime minister - going to the victor.
How long would that take?
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, would be responsible for overseeing the contest and setting a timetable for the campaign, which would be expected to last around 12 weeks - although given the pressing need to get on with the Brexit process, that could be shortened.
A new leader is likely to be in place for the Conservative Party conference in Manchester starting on 29 September.
Tory grandee Ken Clarke – Father of the House – has said a majority of Conservative MPs probably didn’t even vote for their own party at the European elections.
“I don’t know what we scored in yesterday’s European elections but it doesn’t look as though we got 10 per cent of the vote because there didn’t seem to be any reason to vote Conservative … I suspect the majority of Conservative MPs didn’t vote Conservative yesterday.”
“We are going to have a chaotic six weeks now,” he said of a leadership contest. “We’ve got to make sure the whole thing is conducted in a way that doesn’t add to the sense of tragic farce.”
What happens when Theresa May finally quits? Let our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish guide you through the machinations of the days and weeks ahead.
What happens next after Theresa May resigns?
Prime minister widely expected to set departure date on Friday after pressure from cabinet and Tory MPsBeth Rigby, Sky News’ political editor, reporting that Theresa May will make an announcement after meeting the head of the 1922 committee at 9am.
With Theresa May set to step down, here are the top Tory runners and riders vying to become the next prime minister.
Who are the top Tories in the running to replace Theresa May as PM?
Prime minister is set step down over the coming days - and there is a hosts of familiar faces vying to succeed herAs we await the outcome of Theresa May’s meeting with Sir Graham Brady, voting has begun in the Republic of Ireland as the country chooses its members for the next European Parliament.
Local council elections are also being held on Friday, as is a referendum on divorce laws - with a Yes set to reduce the lengthy period separated couples have to wait before they can obtain a formal divorce.
Voters in Cork, Waterford and Limerick will also be able to participate in separate plebiscites on government proposals to create directly elected city mayoral positions with executive functions.
Counting in the local elections and divorce referendum will begin on Saturday morning.
The Republic is set to receive two of the 27 places formerly reserved for the UK which are being redistributed among 14 member states, depending on the outcome of Brexit.
Helen Grant, the Conservative vice chair for Communities, has resigned from the position in order to “actively and openly” support one of the new leadership candidates, she said on Twitter. She has picked quite a moment to do so, with a major announcement from Theresa May expected imminently.
The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith says Theresa May has “reached the conclusion that she can’t go on, because the political reality is her Brexit deal is dead”. He also says the prime minister believed she could “fight on” as recently as yesterday.
The No. 10 cat is all set for the big announcement.
One of Theresa May’s closest allies, Damian Green, has paid tribute to her as her departure draws closer.
Her former de facto deputy Damian Green said a difficult hand to play was made impossible by losing her majority in the snap general election.
“Suddenly and unexpectedly becoming Prime Minister after the seismic shock of the Brexit referendum meant she was dealt an extremely difficult hand to play,” he told the Today programme.
“The truth is, having an election a year later, which cut the Conservative Party’s majority, then at that point it is impossible.”
Mr Green added she could not recover from the resignation of former Brexit secretary David Davis last July. “I think the key point where it went off the rails was when David Davis resigned from Cabinet.
“I think being able to have a deal that kept him and probably Boris Johnson inside would have made all the difference - that seems to have been the turning point.”
