Theresa May to quit

Theresa May will step down as leader of the British Conservative Party on 7 June and will remain in office as British Prime Minister until her successor is selected, she announced today.

The British Prime Minister broke down as she said it had been "the honour of my life" to serve "the country that I love".

Mrs May faced calls for her resignation after her own party slumped to 10% in some opinion polls ahead of European elections in Britain and the north of Ireland yesterday. Her latest plans to win support for Brexit had also again been rejected by both the opposition and a number of her own Cabinet Ministers.

Speaking at Downing Street today, Mrs May said she had "done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal but sadly have not been able to do that".

She added: "I tried three times. It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit."

May's tentative steps towards allowing a second vote on Brexit, a move which could have spelled the end of the project, was too much for senior Tories who have been champing at the bit for the opportunity to replace her.

Boris Johnson, the clownish former Foreign Secretary renowned for his racist gaffes (pictured, inset), is tipped by bookies as the most likely candidate to be the next Prime Minister.

After years of mechanically attempting to force an unpopular and dangerous Brexit through parliament, May ironically advised her successor that compromise will be key in the coming months to find a solution to the Brexit impasse.

"To find a way forward, he or she will have to find a consensus in parliament, where I have not," May said. "Such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise.:

She added: "For many years the great humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved the lives of hundreds of children by arranging their evacuation from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, through the Kinder transport, was my constituent in Maidenhead.

"At another time of political controversy before his death, he took me aside at a local event and gave me a piece of advice, 'never forget that compromise is not a dirty word, life depends on compromise,' he was right," an emotional Mrs May said.

She will stand down as Tory leader on June 7 and the process of electing her successor will begin then.

Urgent Appeal