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British PM Theresa May resigns over Brexit failure

Theresa May won the top job in the turmoil that followed the 2016 Brexit vote. (AFP)
Updated 28 May 2019
Reuters
AFP
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British PM Theresa May resigns over Brexit failure

  • She will resign as Conservative Party leader on June 7 with a leadership contest in the following week
  • She endured crises and humiliation in her effort to find a compromise Brexit deal that parliament could ratify
Updated 28 May 2019
Reuters AFP

LONDON: Theresa May announced Friday that she will step down as U.K. Conservative Party leader on June 7, admitting defeat in her attempt to take Britain out of the European Union and sparking a contest to become the country's next prime minister.

She will stay as caretaker prime minister until the new leader is chosen, a process likely to take several weeks. The new Conservative leader will become prime minister without the need for a general election, and will take up the task of trying to secure Britain's exit from the EU.

Her voice breaking, May said in a televised statement outside 10 Downing St. that she would soon be leaving a job that it has been "the honor of my life to hold."

May became prime minister the month after Britons voted in June 2016 to leave the European Union, and her premiership has been consumed by the attempt to deliver on that verdict.

Now she has bowed to relentless pressure from her party to quit over her failure to take Britain out of the EU on the scheduled date of March 29. Britain is currently due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has yet to approve divorce terms.

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RELATED: TIMELINE: Theresa May's three tumultuous Downing Street years

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"I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice you have a duty to implement what they decide," May said.

"I have done my best to do that. ... 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."

US President Donald Trump told reporters on the White House lawn, “I feel badly for Theresa. I like her very much. She is a good woman,”

“She’s a good woman. She worked very hard. She’s very strong.” 

Multiple contenders are already jockeying to replace her and take up the challenge of securing Britain's EU exit. The early front-runner is Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary and strong champion of Brexit.

Conservative lawmakers increasingly see May as an obstacle to Britain's EU exit, although her replacement will face the same issue: a Parliament deeply divided over whether to leave the EU, and how close a relationship to seek with the bloc after it does.

May spent more than a year and a half negotiating an exit agreement with the EU, only to see it rejected three times by Britain's Parliament.

Pressure on May reached breaking point this week as House of Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom quit and several Cabinet colleagues expressed doubts about the bill she planned to put before Parliament in a fourth attempt to secure Parliament's backing for her Brexit blueprint.

Leadsom, another likely contender to replace May, joined colleagues in paying tribute to the departing leader. She tweeted that May's "dignified speech" had been "an illustration of her total commitment to country and duty. She did her utmost, and I wish her all the very best."

Johnson, whose relentless criticism helped push May out of the door, tweeted: "Thank you for your stoical service to our country and the Conservative Party. It is now time to follow her urgings: to come together and deliver Brexit."

But Johnson, or any other successor, will face a tough challenge to unite a country and a Parliament still deeply divided over the country's relationship with Europe.

The next British leader is likely to be a staunch Brexiteer, who will try to renegotiate the divorce deal, and if that fails to leave the bloc without an agreement on departure terms.

Most businesses and economists think that would cause economic turmoil and plunge Britain into recession. Parliament has voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit, though it remains the legal default option.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker praised May as "a woman of courage" for whom he has great respect.

EU spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said Juncker will "equally respect and establish working relations" with any new British leader.

But the bloc insists it will not renegotiate the Brexit deal.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tweeted that the "agreement reached between the EU and the United Kingdom for an ordered Brexit remains on the table."

Angela Merkel's spokeswoman, Martina Fietz, said the German chancellor noted May's decision "with respect" and would continue to work closely with her successor for "an orderly exit."

In an emotional departure speech, with close aides and her husband Philip looking on, May said she was Britain's "second female prime minister but certainly not the last."

She said she was leaving "with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."

 

Topics: UK Theresa may Brexit

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Afghan mothers seek hospital help for malnourished children

Updated 11 sec ago
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Afghan mothers seek hospital help for malnourished children

Updated 11 sec ago
HERAT: Najiba, 24, keeps a constant watch over her baby, Artiya, one of around four million children at risk of dying from malnutrition this year in Afghanistan.
After suffering a bout of pneumonia at three months old, Artiya’s condition deteriorated and his parents went from hospital to hospital trying to find help.
“I did not get proper rest or good food,” affecting her ability to produce breast milk, Najiba said at Herat Regional Hospital in western Afghanistan.
“These days, I do not have enough milk for my baby.”
The distressed mother, who chose not to give her surname for privacy reasons, said the family earns a living from an electric supplies store run by her husband.
Najiba and her husband spent their meagre savings trying to get care for Artiya, before learning that he has a congenital heart defect.
To her, “no one can understand what I’m going through. No one knows how I feel every day, here with my child in this condition.”
“The only thing I have left is to pray that my child gets better,” she said.
John Aylieff, Afghanistan director at the World Food Programme (WFP), said women are “sacrificing their own health and their own nutrition to feed their children.”
Artiya has gained weight after several weeks at the therapeutic nutrition center in the Herat hospital, where colorful drawings of balloons and flowers adorn the walls.
Mothers such as Najiba, who are grappling with the reality of not being able to feed their children, receive psychological support.
Meanwhile, Artiya’s father is “knocking on every door just to borrow money” which could fund an expensive heart operation on another ward, Najiba said.

- ‘Staggering’ scale -

On average, 315 to 320 malnourished children are admitted each month to the center, which is supported by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The number of cases has steadily increased over the past five years, according to Hamayoun Hemat, MSF’s deputy coordinator in Herat.
Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, low-income families have been hit hard by cuts to international aid, as well as drought and the economic fallout of five million Afghans forced across the border from Iran and Pakistan.
“In 2025, we’d already seen the highest surge in child malnutrition recorded in Afghanistan since the beginning of the 21st century,” Aylieff said in Kabul.
The crisis is only set to worsen this year, he told AFP: “A staggering four million children in this country will be malnourished and will require treatment.”
“These children will die if they’re not treated.”
WFP is seeking $390 million to feed six million Afghans over the next six months, but Aylieff said the chance of getting such funds is “so bleak.”
Pledges of solidarity from around the globe, made after the Taliban government imposed its strict interpretation of Islamic law, have done little to help Afghan women, the WFP director said.
They are now “watching their children succumb to hunger in their arms,” he said.

- ‘No hope’ -

In the country of more than 40 million people, there are relatively few medical centers that can help treat malnutrition.
Some families travel hundreds of kilometers (miles) to reach Herat hospital as they lack health care facilities in their home provinces.
Wranga Niamaty, a nurse team supervisor, said they often receive patients in the “last stage” where there is “no hope” for their survival.
Still, she feels “proud” for those she can rescue from starvation.
In addition to treating the children, the nursing team advises women on breastfeeding, which is a key factor in combating malnutrition.
Single mothers who have to work as cleaners or in agriculture are sometimes unable to produce enough milk, often due to dehydration, nurse Fawzia Azizi said.
The clinic has been a lifesaver for Jamila, a 25-year-old mother who requested her surname not be used out of privacy concerns.
Jamila’s eight-month-old daughter has Down’s syndrome and is also suffering from malnutrition, despite her husband sending money back from Iran where he works.
Wrapped in a floral veil, Jamila said she fears for the future: “If my husband is expelled from Iran, we will die of hunger.”

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