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David Cameron resigns after UK votes to leave European Union David Cameron resigns after UK votes to leave European Union
(about 3 hours later)
David Cameron has resigned as prime minister after the British public rejected his personal entreaties and voted to leave the European Union. David Cameron has resigned, bringing an abrupt end to his six-year premiership, after the British public took the momentous decision to reject his entreaties and turn their back on the European Union.
“The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered,” the prime minister said, his voice breaking with emotion, and his wife, Samantha, standing beside him in Downing Street on Friday morning. Just a year after he clinched a surprise majority in the general election, a visibly emotional Cameron, standing outside Number 10 on Friday morning alongside his wife, Samantha, said: “The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.”
Cameron promised to remain in post until the autumn, to “steady the ship”, but said: “I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain who steers the country to its next destination.” The prime minister campaigned hard in the divisive referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU, appearing at hundreds of public events up and down the country to argue that Brexit would be an act of “economic self-harm”.
He said he had already spoken to the Queen to make his plans clear; but would not yet trigger article 50, the clause in the Lisbon treaty that kicks off the two-year process of withdrawal from the EU. Related: EU referendum live – Boris Johnson prepares to speak after Cameron resigns
His dramatic announcement came after a sharp fall in the pound and as £128bn was wiped off the FTSE 100. But a frustrated electorate used the poll to reject the status quo, and, as the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, described it, “stick two fingers up” at Britain’s politicians.
Cameron said: “I am honoured to have been prime minister of this country for six years.” “I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the EU. I made clear the referendum was about this, and this alone, not the future of any single politician, including myself.
Earlier on Friday, Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, became the first party leader to call for Cameron to go, saying Britain needed a “Brexit prime minister”. “But the British people made a different decision to take a different path. As such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction,” Cameron said.
Cameron’s team in Downing Street were shocked and distraught by the narrow win for leave, with 52% of the vote, after polls had suggested a move towards a comfortable margin for remain in the final few days of campaigning. The prime minister’s team were left shocked and distraught by the narrow win for leave, with 52% of the vote, after polls had suggested a move towards a comfortable margin for remain in the final few days of campaigning.
The prime minister and the chancellor, George Osborne, had gambled their political futures on the historic referendum, which was called to settle the deep divide within their own party. In the statement announcing his intention to step down, Cameron highlighted the key achievements of his premiership, including rebuilding the economy after the financial crisis; and legislating to allow gay marriage.
But a narrow victory for remain early in the night for Newcastle, which had been expected to reject Brexit by a stronger margin, set the pattern for later results, which saw people voting against the overwhelming advice of economic experts that leaving would be an act of “economic self-harm”. The process of choosing his successor will now begin, with Tory MPs selecting a two-person shortlist, which will then be presented to the party’s members in the country to make a final decision.
In the Labour stronghold of Sunderland, leave led with more than 61% of the vote. Nuneaton, the UK’s bellwether area, went 66% for leave. Cameron called the referendum as a calculated gamble, aimed at silencing the Eurosceptics in his own party for a generation.
The value of sterling slumped to a 31-year low on currency markets, and was on course for its biggest one-day loss in history, as it became increasingly clear that voters had rejected the overwhelming consensus at Westminster. Yet he had underestimated the backing Vote Leave would receive on his own backbenches; and reckoned without the charismatic and popular former mayor of London, Boris Johnson, becoming its figurehead.
Treasury officials were preparing to implement contingency plans for calming financial markets that were prepared in the run-up to the poll, and the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, was expected to make a statement on Friday morning. Johnson, whose support among the Tory membership shot up after he declared himself for out, is now widely seen as the most likely successor to the prime minister – though he was received with a chorus of boos from members of the public when he left his home in pro-remain London on Friday morning.
Both the BBC and ITV called the result for leave at around 4.40am. Farage had declared victory 20 minutes earlier, despite having earlier conceded he had probably lost. He said the British people had achieved a revolution “without a single bullet being fired”. Cameron said it would be best for his successor to negotiate the terms of Britain’s exit – and to trigger article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which begins the formal process of withdrawal, adding that he had already discussed his intentions with the Queen.
Farage also criticised the claim at the centre of the cross-party Vote Leave campaign that leaving the EU would free up £350m a week to be spent on the NHS. The prime minister promised to stay on until the autumn, to “steady the ship”; but suggested a new leader should be in place by the start of the Conservative party’s conference in October.
“This, if the predictions now are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people,” he said. Other leading Brexiteers may fancy their chances against Johnson, including Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab.
Farage had been criticised for what some saw as the divisive tone of Leave.EU’s campaign, including a controversial poster picturing a queue of migrants, with the heading, “Breaking Point”. Michael Gove, the justice secretary, has always strongly denied he wants the top job but has consistently polled well in surveys of grassroots Conservatives in recent months.
Cameron had planned, on the basis of a remain win, to announce a series of policy initiatives immediately, to reunify his fractured party and relaunch the government. Party modernisers are likely to rally round an alternative candidate – perhaps Theresa May, Stephen Crabb or Nicky Morgan – in an effort to stop Johnson and other leave campaigners, who tend to be on the right of the party.
Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP who backed the Vote Leave campaign, gave part of her victory speech in German, saying Britain would remain an open and friendly country. George Osborne’s chances of succeeding the prime minister are effectively over after he fought so forcefully alongside Cameron to remain in the EU.
“People were given the impression they had no choice but to remain, but they voted to leave. It is incumbent on all of us to be very calm and remember our responsibility for the future of the United Kingdom,” she said. The scale of anger about the chancellor’s role in the campaign was laid bare when more than 60 Tory MP said they would refuse to back the “Brexit budget” he said would be necessary if Britain voted to leave.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said: “People will be waking up this morning to turmoil in the markets and the pound crashing, and fearing the emergency budget the chancellor threatened to hike their taxes and cut public services.” A narrow victory for remain early in the night for Newcastle, which had been expected to reject Brexit by a stronger margin, set the pattern for later results. There was a sharp divide across Britain, with London and other major cities, and Scotland, voting to remain in the EU, while smaller towns and more deprived economic areas backed Brexit.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had earlier called for the prime minster to trigger article 50 immediately. “The whole point of the referendum was that the public would be asked their opinion, they’ve given that opinion and it’s up to parliament to act on that opinion.” Cameron and Osborne – who were both closely involved in running the campaign – wheeled out an array of global policymakers and experts, including the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and the US president, Barack Obama, to make the case that leaving the EU would inflict severe economic damage.
But Gove caught the public mood when he said the public had had enough of “experts”.
The London stock market plunged at the start of trading at 8am on Friday, as a wave of selling swept the City amid fears about the economic consequences of Britain trying to survive outside the EU single market.
The FTSE 100 plunged by 550 points at one stage, a fall of 8.6%. But the blue-chip index then stabilised, and is currently down 327 points, or 5.2%, at 6009 after Cameron’s statement.
The pound has clawed back from its worst lows, but is still down 7.5% at $1.375 against the US dollar. It has lost 13 cents since the polls closed on Thursday night, when opinion polls suggested a remain victory.
A Whitehall source said the first priority for Cameron’s post-Brexit administration was to steady the financial markets by ensuring that there would be a smooth transition to a new prime minister.
To that end, there has already been “contact” between Downing Street with both Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the source said. David Cameron is expected to arrange a meeting with both, which “will be awkward to say the least”, within the next 48 hours.
Cameron’s statement was expected to be delivered at 7am but it finally came after 8.15am, a quarter of an hour after the markets opened. Labour will hold a shadow cabinet meeting on Friday morning to calibrate its response.