May becomes British PM, promises ‘bold new role’ outside EU

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Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May, who is due to take over as prime minister on Wednesday, arrives for a cabinet meeting at number 10 Downing Street, in central London, Britain July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall

Theresa May became Britain’s new prime minister on Wednesday, promising to carve out a bold new future in the world as she embarks on the monumental task of leading the country out of the European Union.

May, 59 assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her new home of 10 Downing Street, vacated hours earlier by David Cameron.

“We will rise to the challenge. As we leave the European Union we will forge a bold new positive role for ourselves in the world, and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us,” she said.

Cameron stepped down after Britons rejected his entreaties and voted to leave the EU in a referendum last month, severely undermining European efforts to forge greater unity and creating economic uncertainty across the 28-nation bloc.

May must try to limit the damage to British trade and investment as she renegotiates the country’s ties with its 27 EU partners. She will also attempt to unite a divided ruling Conservative party and a fractured nation in which many, on the evidence of the vote, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the forces of globalization.

Acknowledging the struggles faced by many Britons, May declared: “The government I lead will be driven not be the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives.

“When we take the big calls we’ll think not of the powerful but you, when we pass new laws we’ll listen not to the mighty but to you, when it comes to taxes we’ll prioritize not the wealthy but you.”

The United States congratulated May and said it was confident in her ability to steer Britain through the Brexit negotiations.

“Based on the public comments we’ve seen from the incoming prime minister, she intends to pursue a course that’s consistent with the prescription that President Obama has offered,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

An official photograph showed May curtseying to a smiling Queen Elizabeth, for whom she is the 13th prime minister in a line that started with Winston Churchill.

She is also Britain’s second female head of government after Margaret Thatcher.

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EU leaders, keen to move forward after the shock of ‘Brexit’, want May to launch formal divorce proceedings as soon as possible to help resolve the uncertainty.

But she has said the process should not be launched before the end of year, to give time for Britain to draw up its negotiating strategy.

Although she favored Britain remaining in Europe, May has repeatedly declared that “Brexit means Brexit” and that there can be no attempt to reverse the referendum outcome.

The shock vote partly reflected discontent with EU rules on freedom of movement that have contributed to record-high immigration – an issue on which May, as interior minister for the past six years, is politically vulnerable.

But EU leaders have made clear that free movement is a fundamental principle that goes hand-in-hand with access to the bloc’s tariff-free single market, a stance that will hugely complicate May’s task in hammering out new terms of trade.

“My advice to my successor, who is a brilliant negotiator, is that we should try to be as close to the European Union as we can be for the benefits of trade, cooperation and of security,” Cameron told parliament in his last appearance before resigning.

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Appearing later in Downing Street with his wife Samantha and their three children, he delivered his parting remarks to the nation after six years dominated by the Europe question and the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

“It’s not been an easy journey and of course we’ve not got every decision right,” he said, “but I do believe that today our country is much stronger.”

In parliament, Cameron took the opportunity to trumpet his government’s achievements in generating one of the fastest growth rates among western economies, chopping the budget deficit, creating 2.5 million jobs and legalizing gay marriage.Yet his legacy will be overshadowed by his failed referendum gamble, which he had hoped would keep Britain at the heart of a reformed EU. The new leader, Britain’s Home Secretary — in charge of immigration and law and order — for the past six years, has the tough task of calming the country, and the financial markets, after the massive upheaval that has followed the June 23 referendum.

She is expected to quickly unveil a new Cabinet lineup, including a minister in charge of implementing Brexit, a British exit from the EU.

May, who backed remaining in the EU, will also be expected to reward prominent campaigners for a “leave” vote with key jobs. Observers are keen to see if she appoints former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, onetime Conservative leadership contenders who jointly headed the “leave” campaign but then turned on one another.

There is also speculation that May, Britain’s second female prime minister — after Margaret Thatcher — will boost the number of women in top posts.

Cameron told The Daily Telegraph it had been “a privilege to serve the country I love.” He said he hoped he was leaving “a stronger country, a thriving economy and more chances to get on in life.”

Newspapers offered harsher judgments of a politician toppled by his decision to call a referendum on EU membership — which he then lost. The Sun said Cameron had been “undone by his Olympian overconfidence,” while the Guardian called him a “prime minister of broken promises.” But Cameron drew praise from an old adversary, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker saying he would miss the British leader.

Cameron once derided Juncker as a Brussels backroom bureaucrat and tried to block him from becoming commission president. But Juncker told reporters in Beijing that he had “no beef” with Cameron.

“I have experienced a man who is serious, who is a fan of no-nonsense policy and who was delivering at each and every moment when things started to become serious,” Juncker said.