Boris Johnson was elected by Conservative Party members to succeed May as party leader.
Since the party is in government, a change in the position of party leader also means taking over the position of prime minister.
Johnson is the 93-year-old son of the United Kingdom's 55th Prime Minister, who has ruled for 67 years. Queen Elizabeth's 14th Prime Minister.
Theresa May has left Downing Street.
Theresa May left Downing Street for the final time as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon.
May visited with her second husband. In a short statement before leaving Buckingham Palace in London to formally resign – also her last as prime minister – Queen Elizabeth announced that she was recommending to the monarch that Boris Johnson, the new leader of the ruling Conservative Party, be tasked with forming a government.
I mentioned that
The immediate and primary task of the new government will be to implement the referendum decision on ending Britain's membership in the European Union (Brexit),
In a way that is appropriate for the UK as a whole.
If successful, he added, it could mean a fresh start, a national renewal that could lead the country out of the Brexit impasse and into the bright future the British people deserve.
His speech was interrupted by loud shouts of “Stop Brexit” from the other side of the fence separating Downing Street from Whitehall, the government's main thoroughfare. Her husband, Philip May, joked that it wasn't him, and Theresa May, after a pause, said: “The answer is no” to the shouting suggestion.
He stressed at the end of his farewell speech:
Although he will leave Downing Street, he will continue his political activities as a Member of Parliament.
At the end of last May, Theresa May announced her resignation from the Conservative Party and the government.
The main reason for this is that although his government struck a deal with the leaders of the remaining 27 EU member states last November, the British Parliament has rejected it three times since then.
