Brexit : Theresa May to replace David Cameron as sole candidate of British Prime Minister as Andrea Leadsom quits Tory leadership race

British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media outside No10 Downing Street in London on July 11, 2016. ©AFP

British Prime Minister David Cameron says Theresa May will be Britain’s new head of government by Wednesday evening.
Cameron said on Monday that the Home Secretary will take office after he visits Queen Elizabeth to tender his resignation and recommend May as his successor.
"On Wednesday, I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions and then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation so we'll have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening," he said as he was addressing reporters outside No 10 Downing Street.
Cameron announced his resignation on June 24, a day after people in the UK voted to leave the EU. Cameron was among the senior politicians who supported the Remain campaign.
The announcement came hours after Andrea Leadsom quit the Tory leadership race and May consequently was left as the only contender standing for the position.

Photo taken on June 27, 2016 shows Theresa May arriving to attend a cabinet meeting at No 10 Downing Street in central London. ©AFP

The 1922 committee of Tory MPs, that is responsible for overseeing the leadership race, is holding talks over formally declaring May as the party leader.
Leadsom, who supported Brexit, said a nine-week leadership campaign is “highly undesirable” for the UK at this crucial moment.
Cameron said Leadsom made the right decision to pull out of the race and that May “has the overwhelming support of the Conservative parliamentary party.”
“I am also delighted Theresa May will be the next Prime Minister. She is strong, she is competent, she is more than able to provide the leadership that our country is going to need in the years ahead and she will have my full support,” Cameron added.
May, who wanted the UK to remain in the EU, should begin the Brexit process soon after taking office.
Earlier on Monday, May rejected plans to remain in the EU despite people’s vote to leave the bloc.
"Brexit means Brexit. There will be no attempts to remain inside the EU, there will be no attempts to rejoin it by the back door, no second referendum,” she said.
Andrea Leadsom withdrew Monday from the race to replace British Prime Minister David Cameron, leaving Home Secretary Theresa May as the sole remaining candidate to lead the Conservative Party.
Graham Brady, the head of the committee running the contest, said after Leadsom's announcement that the party board would meet to discuss confirming May as the winner. He did not suggest reopening the race and did not say when the party might confirm that she has won.
Assuming she is confirmed, May could become prime minister within days. Cameron announced his resignation after British voters rejected his advice and chose to leave the European Union in a referendum last month, though he wasn't expected to step down until September.
Leadsom withdrew after a weekend uproar over comments she made suggesting that being a mother would be an advantage in the job.

Leadsom has children; May does not.
It wasn't clear whether the flap affected Leadsom's decision to drop out. She said in a brief announcement that she did not believe she had sufficient support within the party to remain in the race.
Leadsom said "business needs certainty" in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, which has unsettled the markets and sent the value of the pound plunging.
She said Britain needed a government that would "move quickly to set out what an independent United Kingdom's framework for business looks like.
"We now need a new prime minister in place as soon as possible," Leadsom said.
May was in favor of the UK remaining in the EU, while Leadsom campaigned for the "leave" side.
The field of candidates to replace Cameron had already been narrowed from five to two, but Leadsom's announcement was a surprise as a final decision wasn't expected until September. Because the Conservative Party is in power, only its 150,000 members get to pick the party leader, who by default becomes prime minister.

Andrea Leadsom speaks to the media as she announces her withdrawal from the Conservative leadership race at Cowley Street. Photo / Getty Images

Before the announcement, Leadsom had apologized to May, telling Monday's Daily Telegraph newspaper that she believed that having children has "no bearing on the ability to be PM."
"I deeply regret that anyone has got the impression that I think otherwise," she said.
Leadsom had told the Times of London in an interview published Saturday that "I feel that being a mum means you have a very real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake."
Leadsom later accused the newspaper of practicing "gutter journalism" and twisting her sentiments in the story, run under the headline "being a mother gives me edge on May - Leadsom."
The Times released a recording of part of the interview to show it had quoted Leadsom accurately.
Leadsom's rivals said both her comments and her subsequent flip-flopping showed the junior energy minister doesn't have the experience under pressure required to be prime minister. Her allies accused supporters of May - Britain's interior minister - of attempting to undermine Leadsom.
British politics has been thrown into turmoil by the referendum result, which has sparked leadership struggles in both the governing Conservative and main opposition Labour parties.
Labour lawmaker Angela Eagle was Monday launching an attempt to unseat party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran left-winger who has a strong base of support among Labour members but little backing from the party's 229 lawmakers.
Labour legislators have passed a no-confidence motion in Corbyn, and many of his top team in Parliament resigned from their jobs to protest his leadership. He is refusing to resign and says he can win a leadership battle, which would be decided by a vote of party members.
Many Labour lawmakers believe the staunchly socialist, resolutely uncharismatic Corbyn lacks broad appeal to voters. Eagle said he "doesn't connect enough to win an election."