BREAKING: Andrea Leadsom to quit Tory leadership race - reports

[Night Watchman]

Source: Daily Express (UK)

By Greg Heffer, Political Reporter
PUBLISHED: 11:42, Mon, Jul 11, 2016 | UPDATED: 11:58, Mon, Jul 11, 2016

The energy minister today scheduled a surprise statement at 12.15pm, less than an hour after her rival Theresa May launched her national campaign to be elected Conservative Party leader.

It is expected Mrs Leadsom will announce she is withdrawing from the contest to become Tory leader and Britain's next prime minister.

If she does, it would automatically install Mrs May as David Cameron's replacement in Number 10.

A source close to Mrs Leadsom told the BBC the "abuse {was} too great" for the former City trader during the leadership campaign.


Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/688246/Tory-leadership-race-Andrea-Leadsom-quits-Theresa-May-new-prime-minister

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A thin-skinned pol. Well, we wouldn't know anything about that!

[Helen Borg]

1. Somebody found some dirt on her...

Glad she is a goner though...

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Confirmed - she's given a statement supporting May

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/jul/11/andrea-leadsom-apologises-to-theresa-may-politics-live?page=with:block-57837efae4b0eebd3158704f#block-57837efae4b0eebd3158704f

[Helen Borg]

3. Aw, they asked her gotcha questions...

[BooScout]

4. "Abuse was too great"....lol

The idiot stuck her foot in her own mouth with her first interview.

[Native]

11. She couldn't take the heat - wow, that's a stunner.

Politics gets just as nasty across the pond as it does here. It blows my mind that she'd quit simply because of the criticism she received about her mommy comment. Just wow.

[LittleGirl]

5. Pay attention Americans

This is what happens when people are misinformed about the future of their country and get to vote for things like BREXIT.

That's my UK spouse speaking...

[T_i_B]

6. She was an abysmal candidate

Although plenty of people are already viewing this as a stitchup by the Tory party.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Graham Brady, chair of the committee overseeing the election, says there won't be another candidate

so Theresa May will be the next PM. Brady, and Number 10, are making noises that imply this will happen in a few days, rather than early September as originally planned.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Glad to see the back of her!

Not so keen on having May dumped on us, but anyone's better than Gove or Loathsome. Or the arch-traitor Boris. But a lot of people, even some Tories, are better than May. Ken Clarke for example; or even 'come back John Major all is forgiven!' Though I think the Tory base would hate either of them even worse than it hates Corbyn!

In any case, we are going to end up more politically dependent on America than ever before, so for our sakes, AND YOURS AND EVERYONE ELSE'S!!! please do not elect Trump the Rump

[sangfroid]

9. I guess

She was offered the Secretary of State position

[Nye Bevan]

10. A refreshingly frank reaction from one MP:

As Leadsom finished her statement, a group of hecklers shouted: “Another Brexiteer leaves the scene of the crime.” Some of her supporters were in shock. Edward Leigh, an arch-Eurosceptic MP, arrived a few minutes after Leadsom had made the statement, asking assembled supporters: “What the fuck is going on, why is she resigning?”

“I found out 20 minutes ago in the tea room, I don’t know who was in the loop,” he said. “Theresa May says Brexit means Brexit, we’re going to hold her to that. We’ll never know now, but I personally think that we should have had a leader who had been campaigning to leave the EU. But it’s too late now.”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/11/conservative-leadership-andrea-leadsom-pulls-out-of-race

[auntpurl]

14. "I personally think we should have had a leader who had been campaigning to leave the EU."

Yes, well, they've all fucked off, haven't they? So this is what you get.

[T_i_B]

16. As we say in Yorkshire now...

If tha Brexit tha should chuffin' well fix it!

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Cameron will step down as PM on Wednesday after PMQs, and Theresa May takes over

We are not going to have a prolonged leadership election campaign. I think Andrea Leadsom made absolutely the right decision to stand aside. It is clear Theresa May has the overwhelming support of the Conservative parliamentary party.

I’m also delighted that Theresa May will be the next prime minister. She is strong, she is competent, she’s more than able to provide the leadership the country is going to need in the years ahead and she will have my full support.

Obviously with these changes we now don’t need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last cabinet meeting. 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 will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/jul/11/andrea-leadsom-apologises-to-theresa-may-politics-live?page=with:block-5783b3b4e4b0f36a6e1c5521#block-5783b3b4e4b0f36a6e1c5521

So all that's left is to work out what tune he was humming. Some think The West Wing theme tune.

[auntpurl]

13. A happy little lilt.

Sounded positively delighted. Off on holiday and leave the suckers to clean up his godawful mess. Wanker.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. Sounds like Thatcher 2.0