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UK prime minister, Theresa May said on Friday morning she would step down due to her failure to deliver on the people’s vote to leave the European Union.
The game is on to select a new PM with Boris Johnson in the running to deliver on Brexit.
A new leader should be installed by the end of July with hard line Brexiteers likely to attract support.
The British can expect a full on collision with Brussels and a general election.
Boris Johnson, the odds-on favourite for the premiership already has said that Britain should be prepared to leave the EU without a deal so as to force the Union to offer an improved deal.
The serving foreign minister, Jeremy Hunt, is running against Johnson also confirmed he would run for the leadership.
May’s emotional resignation speech, included the words, “I will shortly leave the job that has been the honour of my life to hold.”
“I do so with no ill will but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love,” said May.
“It is, and will always remain, a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit,” May said, adding that her successor will have to find a consensus to honour the 2016 referendum result.
Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the new prime minister must hold an election to, “let the people decide our country’s future.”
May leaves Britain with a deep division over Brexit with the latest deadline for departure set for Oct. 31.
The EU has stated that it will not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement it sealed with Britain in November 2018.
European Commission President, Jean-Claude Drunker, commented that he heard the news of May’s departure, “without personal joy.”
Johnson is the favourite to succeed May, with betting markets giving him a 40% probability of winning.
Others tipped are Dominic Raab, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, and the former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom.
Outsiders are Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart each have a 4% chance of the top job while Home Secretary Sajid Javid has a 3% chance.
The Conservative party said it would move quickly to try to conclude the leadership contest before the summer break summer holiday that starts in in late July.