Theresa May resigns: Boris Johnson threatens no-deal Brexit as prominent Conservatives announce bids to replace PM

MPs pay tribute to ‘dignified’ prime minister as leadership race intensifies

Theresa May announces she will stand down as Conservative leader

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:

[24 May 2019 07:35 · Adam Forrest]

Good morning, and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster, as Theresa May is expected to set out a timetable for her departure from No.10.

[24 May 2019 07:38 · Adam Forrest]

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.

[24 May 2019 07:45 · Adam Forrest]

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.

[24 May 2019 07:49 · Adam Forrest]

Politicians 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.

[24 May 2019 07:51 · Adam Forrest]

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.

[24 May 2019 08:02 · Adam Forrest]

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan doesn’t think there will be any Tory MEPs left after the European elections.

[24 May 2019 08:05 · Adam Forrest]

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.”

[24 May 2019 08:10 · Adam Forrest]

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.

[24 May 2019 08:17 · Adam Forrest]

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.”

[24 May 2019 08:19 · Adam Forrest]

More on Tory MEP Daniel Hannan’s predictions for the European elections from our Europe correspondent Jon Stone.