UK premier Theresa May steps down as Tory leader

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – British Prime Minister Theresa May has officially stepped down as Conservative Party leader Friday.

May said last month she would no longer be the party leader as of 7 June in a press conference after her meeting with her party’s 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady.

She had said in an emotional press conference that she was sad because she has not been able to pass her Brexit deal through the parliament in three attempts.

“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 interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort,” she said.

May had become the Tory leader and prime minister after the departure of David Cameron in 2016 following British voters’ decision to leave the EU in a referendum.

She has negotiated with the EU leaders a withdrawal agreement but failed to pass it through the House of Commons repeatedly, failing to impress her own MPs to support it.

May was under great pressure to resign for the past four months as she failed to gather majority support for her Brexit deal.

The contest for Conservative Party leadership will begin on June 10 and expected to end in last week of July.

She will continue as the caretaker premier until the party elects its new leader.

May was born on Oct. 1, 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, England as Theresa Mary Brasier.

The only child of an Anglican minister, she ascended to the top government office in 2016 after becoming the leader of the Conservative Party.

She held several ministerial posts in various shadow cabinets between 1999 and 2009 and went down in history as the country's longest-serving home secretary after having served in the position from 2010 to 2016.

May, together with Cameron, campaigned to remain in the EU prior to the EU referendum held in June 2016.

She became the party leader after Cameron’s departure and the second female prime minister of the country on July 13, 2016.