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UK Prime Minister Theresa May Will Resign, Pass the Brexit
Theresa May has announced that she will resign as UK's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party:
Mrs. May announced on Friday that she would be stepping down as leader of her Conservative Party and then as Britain's prime minister, after repeatedly failing to win Parliament's approval for a deal to withdraw the country from the European Union.
A successor to Theresa May will be chosen before Parliament's summer break, the Conservative Party chairman said. She will continue as prime minister until the leadership contest is finished.
[...] Standing in front of 10 Downing Street, Mrs. May said it was in the "best interests of the country for a new prime minister" to lead Britain through the Brexit process. She announced plans to step down as the leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, with the process to replace her beginning the following week.
Previously: Theresa May: UK's Next Prime Minister?
UK PM Theresa May announces resignation amid fury over Brexit handling
foxnews.com/world/uk-pm-theresa-may-announces-resignation-amid-fury-over-brexit-handling
May spoke outside 10 Downing Street after a meeting with Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers. She said she will step down on June 7. Her resignation will trigger a party leadership contest, and whoever wins that contest will take over as prime minister.
[...] Her announcement could complicate the upcoming June 3 state visit by President Trump to London to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, where he will also meet with Queen Elizabeth II.
May will still be in office during that visit, meaning it will nix the chance for a new prime minister to forge ties with the American president at a time where such relations are vital. A U.S.-U.K. trade deal is a top priority for the U.K. as it looks to depart from the European Union and begin making its own trade agreements -- and Trump has said "the potential is unlimited" for such a deal.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Friday May 24 2019, @03:41PM (10 children)
List of Theresa May's greatest hits as Home Secretary (on SN) here [soylentnews.org]. Plenty more to be found on The Register and elsewhere:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/02/theresa_may_home_secretary_investigatory_powers_bill_snooping/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/08/new_government_new_security_powers/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/14/theresa_may_grilled_by_home_affairs_committee_on_data_retention_investigation_powers_bill/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/09/snoopers_charter_what_happens_now/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/03/home_secretary_snoopers_charter_will_save_lives/ [theregister.co.uk]
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/08/theresa_may_border_control_gaffe/ [theregister.co.uk]
etc.
If you're charitable, she might be completely blameless in fumbling Brexit, but that doesn't excuse her long career of promoting authoritarian laws.
It's OK to look at that woman's tearful speech and not feel any sympathy. She has earned her title of worst PM in UK history (so far).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by canopic jug on Friday May 24 2019, @04:53PM (4 children)
She also cut funding for law enforcement dropping the number of police on the beat to a fraction of what they were. Many blame that reduction for the subsequent crime waves clobbering the country. However, few connect the dots and associate May's cuts with the UK's current, jaw-dropping follow-on crime waves.
Then there is the matter of what is being done to the NHS. The people behind all this Brexit mess are also aiming to finish privatizing their health service and turn to the US-style insurance model. They have started by defunding the NHS so that it struggles and then use the struggles as motivation to sell off properties and cut staffing and services. Selling off buildings means that space has to be rented, at whatever price is being asked, adding further adding to the budget shortfalls created by axing the budget in the first place.
Much of the blame can be placed on Facebook [ted.com]. Apparently use of Facebook on the 2016 Brexit vote served as a petri dish for use of Facebook against the 2016 US federal election [theguardian.com].
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @05:11PM (1 child)
Ooh, I can't wait for the part to where it was all Russia's fault that the majority of Britons voted for Brexit, followed by part 3, where the politicians, having seen that democracy is too precious for the people to exercise, take over for our own good.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday May 24 2019, @05:28PM
None of the moderations are really appropriate, so I settled on "interesting". But, yes, there always has to be a bad guy lurking in the background, doesn't there?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by isostatic on Friday May 24 2019, @06:12PM (1 child)
Apparently use of Facebook on the 2016 Brexit vote served as a petri dish for use of Facebook against the 2016 US federal election
Quite. Btu Brexit was won because Johnson decided his best carrer move was to back Leave rather than Remain. That was only because he had the cachet of beign a fairly decent mayor of London during the olympics, which only happened because he was a popular figure in 2008, from his appearences as the "lovable oaf" in shows like Have I got news for you. He only appeared on that show because Angus Deyton left after doing hookers and blow and they needed presenters.
Had Angus kept it in his trousers, Trump would not be president.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday May 25 2019, @09:37AM
I'm pretty sure he'd been appearing on HIGNFY as a panellist before Angus Deayton left as host.
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Having glanced at Wikipedia's list of episodes, he'd been on three times 1998 and 2001 before Deayton left. He was the fourth guest host afterward, and was then hosting roughly once a year, but no longer a panellist.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Friday May 24 2019, @05:44PM (3 children)
Theresa May is very much in the mold of conservative leaders. Bone headed, obsessed with security to the point of paranoia, stubborn, contemptuous of reason and facts and in love with their own propaganda, and in perpetual danger of collapsing from their own contradictions and lies, and that reality that they so dislike finally kicking them in the ass if they last long enough.
Another example is Dick Cheney. Read his take on the War in Iraq with a critical eye, and you will quickly see all kinds of shaky assumptions that could have been researched if only they cared to, but didn't really need to be because we already knew much of it was a load of bull. The main thing I still wonder with the Brits is why Tony Blair went along with it. Didn't he know better than to trust W.'s administration? Or was the US's reputation still dazzling enough at that time to easily overcome such doubts?
A disgraceful conclusion seems to happen more often with conservative leaders. Nixon resigned, W.'s presidency featured that war over Weapons of Mass Destruction that weren't and ended with the Great Recession, and Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover presided over the Roaring 20s that featured a lot of corruption such as the Teapot Dome scandal, and ended with a terrible stock market crash and brought us the Great Depression. Reagan and Eisenhower were exceptions. Eisenhower actually worked to undermine the fringe elements of his own party, such as the infamous Joe McCarthy.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @06:32PM (2 children)
why Tony Blair went along with it
That is fairly well known outside of the UK:
The UK economy was stuffed, and the Americans offered Blair huge defence contracts if he played along.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday May 25 2019, @09:39AM (1 child)
Interesting viewpoint, one that I hadn't heard before.
In which areas is this "fairly well known"?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @11:10PM
OP here:
I heard it in Europe and Africa, but other parts of the globe I have not been to have probably heard the same story.
I have even heard it in dubious nightclubs in London (not that I go to such places often ;-}
(Score: 2) by quietus on Saturday May 25 2019, @12:15PM
I think you're being too harsh there for her, Takyon. Her role as a politician was to take decisions based on advice given to her -- but in reality the measures are developed by her administration, with plenty of experience in how to get their way.
We all make mistakes, and wrong calculations.
What is undeniable is that she meant it when saying that she'd considered it an honour to work for her country. The UK should be proud that they've produced a politician like that; and she should be proud that she has done her duty under the harshest of political circumstances.
I wouldn't be surprised if historians will come to the conclusion that if the UK had followed up on the deal this courageous woman has made, they'd have been far better off than with the no deal that's now coming.