Theresa May Vows to Set a Date for Stepping Down as U.K. Prime Minister

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/world/europe/uk-theresa-may.html

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LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain promised on Thursday that she would set a date to step down as the country’s leader, starting the countdown to the end of one of the most troubled premierships in recent British history.

For months she had shrugged off parliamentary defeats, negotiation failures and calls from her own lawmakers to resign.

But after a lengthy meeting on Thursday with senior lawmakers in her governing Conservative Party, Mrs. May agreed to set a timetable next month for stepping down, according to a statement from one of the party’s leading figures.

The chairman of the party committee, Graham Brady, said in his statement that Mrs. May had agreed to set the timetable after another looming parliamentary vote on her plan to remove Britain from the European Union.

In the past, she had agreed to step down if her Brexit plan — which has failed three times — won approval in Parliament. Now, she has effectively agreed to leave whether her plan passes or not.

The statement intensified jostling among Mrs. May’s many rivals that has been underway unofficially for many months.

Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and a leader of the pro-Brexit campaign before the country’s 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, said on Thursday that he would run for the leadership when it became available.

Though he is probably the front-runner, a number of Mrs. May’s cabinet members are likely to put themselves forward. They include Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary; Sajid Javid, the home secretary; Dominic Raab, a former Brexit secretary; and Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons.

Under party rules, Conservative lawmakers will select two candidates, but the final decision will go to a ballot of party members, about 120,000 people.

Most analysts expect at least the first phase of the contest, among Conservative lawmakers, to be completed before Parliament breaks for its summer vacation, toward the end of July.

The statement from Mr. Brady sets the stage for a turbulent start to next month when Mrs. May has promised to hold a vote on legislation enacting her plan to leave the European Union, a proposal that has already been rejected three times by lawmakers.

The plan would keep Britain closely tied to the European Union at least until the end of 2020, and then remove it from the bloc’s main economic structures.

A critical vote is scheduled for the week of June 3, when President Trump is expected in Britain on a state visit and there will be events to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings that preceded the Allied victory in World War II.

Mrs. May is used to drama after a tumultuous period in Downing Street that has been marked by her sometimes shambolic efforts to extract Britain from the European Union, the one task she really set herself. Though her critics see her as stubborn and inflexible, her determination to plow on through adversity, her ability to absorb political pain and her refusal to stand aside have won her some admiration.

But she now appears to be nearing the end of the road. Twice, Mrs. May has had to ask the European Union to delay Brexit, and now her Conservatives face fierce competition from a new Brexit party started by Nigel Farage, which argues that Britain should leave the bloc soon, without any agreement if necessary.

Earlier this year Mrs. May offered to stand aside if Parliament voted to agree to her Brexit plan, and to allow someone else to take over the next phase of the negotiations with Brussels, which would cover the details of any new trade agreement.

But the significance of Thursday’s statement is that Mrs. May has effectively conceded she cannot remain as prime minister if her plan loses for a fourth time, as most analysts believe it will.

Going into the meeting inside Parliament on Thursday, Mrs. May had been under pressure to name a specific date for her departure, something she successfully resisted. The agreement struck with her senior lawmakers buys her a few more weeks and the chance to make a final attempt to secure a Brexit vote, and some sort of legacy.

Her supporters believe that elections for the European Parliament, scheduled for next week, will be bad news for both the Conservative and opposition Labour Parties but hope that could help Mrs. May. They argue that, if Mr. Farage’s Brexit Party performs well, it proves that voters are frustrated at Parliament’s failure to agree on a plan to leave the European Union, which could increase pressure on lawmakers to pass Mrs. May’s Brexit legislation.

But most analysts think that Mrs. May will fail again unless she can gain the support of opposition lawmakers. Talks with the Labour Party, meanwhile, are stalling.

Within her Conservative Party, activists are planning to hold a meeting on June 15 to discuss a motion of no confidence in Mrs. May. While nonbinding, that would be a huge blow to what remains of her authority.

Senior lawmakers have threatened to change internal party rules that protect her from a formal challenge until December. That could mean her having to face a quick contest that she would probably lose.

Rather than risk that fate, Mrs. May appears to have finally accepted that a fourth parliamentary failure would make her position untenable.

Mrs. May’s successor will, however, inherit the same constraints that apparently have left Britain no closer to a smooth exit from the European Union than it was three years ago, when Britons voted to leave.