Today Theresa May is officially stepping down from her position of leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the United KIngdom. She will remain in office a bit longer to keep the government going while the country prepares to elect a new leader, but for all intents and purposes, her rule is over.
Now it is up to the Conservative Party to select a new leader. The Tories will hold internal discussions, with eleven prominent members currently being lauded as candidates for May’s position. It is expected that this process will take up the next eight weeks or so. Whoever is elected as leader of the party will likely become the next Prime Minister, provided the Conservatives win in a general election. They did rather poorly in the recent elections for European parliament, though it is worth remembering that voter turnout is traditionally lower for those than it is for general elections.
This process and any political developments in the United Kingdom will be very important in the weeks to come, as they will set the tone for Brexit. The deadline for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union is October 31, and some of the top candidates according to the polls include hard Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, who might be willing to take the UK out of the EU even without a deal, no matter the economic consequences.
