David Cameron has announced his resignation after the British public rejected his personal entreaties and voted to leave the European Union.
“The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered,” the prime minister said, his voice breaking with emotion, and his wife Samantha standing at his side in Downing Street.
Cameron promised to remain in post until the autumn, to “steady the ship”, but said: “I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain who steers the country to its next destination.”
He revealed that he had already spoken to the Queen to make his plans clear; but would not yet trigger article 50, the clause in the EU’s Lisbon treaty that kicks off a two-year withdrawal process.
His dramatic announcement came after a sharp fall in the pound and as £128bn was wiped off the FTSE 100.
Cameron said: “I am honoured to have been prime minister of this country for six years.”
Earlier on Friday, Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, became the first party leader to call for Cameron to go, saying what Britain needed was a “Brexit prime minister”.
Cameron’s team in Downing Street were shocked and distraught by the narrow win for leave, after polls had suggested a move towards a comfortable margin for remain in the final few days of campaigning.
The prime minister and the chancellor, George Osborne, had gambled their political futures on the historic referendum, which was called to settle the deep divide within their own party.
But a narrow victory for remain early in the night for Newcastle, which had been expected to reject Brexit by a strong margin, set the pattern for later results, which saw voters rejecting the overwhelming advice of economic experts that leaving would be an act of “economic self-harm”.
In the Labour stronghold of Sunderland, leave led with more than 61% of the vote. Nuneaton, famously the UK’s bellwether, went 66% for leave.
Credit: The Guardian
