UK prime minister Theresa May announces date she will resign as Conservative Party leader

Ned Simons

Theresa May has announced she will resign as Conservative Party leader on June 7, following a furious backlash to her last-ditch Brexit plan.

Speaking in Downing Street on Friday morning, May said: “I have done my best.”

She will remain as prime minister while the party holds a leadership contest, with her successor expected to be in place by the end of the summer.

May was finally ousted following a cabinet revolt over her decision to offer MPs a vote on whether to hold a second referendum.

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Boris Johnson, the Brexiteer former foreign secretary, is currently seen as the frontrunner to replace her.

But several other senior Tories, including ex-Brexit Secretary Dominc Raab, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove are all expected to throw their hat into the ring.

Ken Clarke, the former Tory chancellor and veteran MP, predicted the contest would be “six weeks of chaos”.

  • This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

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