Theresa May bows out as Tory leader with crushing Peterborough by-election defeat

Loss in Peterborough crowns record of failure for outgoing prime minister

Theresa May today steps down as leader of the Conservative Party, though she will remain prime minister until her successor is chosen.

As promised in her tearful statement on the steps of 10 Downing Street on May 24, Ms May will formally quit as Tory leader ahead of the handover of power to a new PM at the end of next month.

The final day of her stint at the Tory helm was marked by defeat at the ballot box, as the party slumped into third place in the Peterborough by-election behind both Labour and Nigel Farage’s insurgent Brexit Party.

Failure to win back a seat that was Conservative as recently as 2015 set the seal on a calamitous period in power for a prime minister who was forced out by her own troops amid electoral debacle and an inability to deliver Brexit.

Having entered office on 13 July 2016 with a promise to take Britain out of the European Union (EU) and tackle “burning injustices” in UK society, Ms May found her premiership bogged down in Brexit negotiations and failed in three attempts to get her eventual deal through parliament.

She had secured the Tory leadership two days earlier by default, after her only remaining rival Andrea Leadsom dropped out of the contest.

But she lost her majority in a disastrous general election, held at a time of her own choosing in 2017, and became the only PM in history to have her government found in contempt of parliament.

Tellingly, Ms May’s formal removal as Tory leader was not being marked by any ceremony or fanfare.

Having returned from commemorations of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, the PM was spending her last day as leader in her Maidenhead constituency.

From there, she will send a formal resignation letter to the acting co-chairs of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Charles Walker and Dame Cheryl Gillan. The letter, and their reply, are not expected to be published.

Ms May will remain as acting Tory leader and stay in 10 Downing Street as prime minister until her successor – probably Boris Johnson, or one of his closest rivals Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove or Dominic Raab – is elected by Conservative members towards the end of July.

The length of the leadership contest will allow her to leapfrog Neville Chamberlain to become the UK’s 33rd longest-serving PM, having outlasted Gordon Brown last month.

Labour held on to Peterborough by a margin of 683 over the Brexit Party, which took huge chunks out of the Tory vote with its promise of a no-deal Brexit.

Forced by the removal of Fiona Onasanya in a recall petition following her conviction for lying about a speeding offence, the by-election took place against a backdrop of Tories lagging below 20 per cent in national opinion polls and picking up a woeful 9 per cent in last month’s European elections.