Today will mark David Cameron’s last full day in office and tomorrow evening Britain’s second-ever female Prime Minister will take charge of the country.
Yesterday was another dramatic day in Westminster with the Tory leadership race coming to preamture climax and David Cameron standing down as Prime Minister two months ahead of schedule.
But when will Theresa May officially take over from Cameron?
Here we give you a guide to the changes that are about to take place at Downing Street.
When will David Cameron go?
Tomorrow afternoon. He will be at the despatch box for his last prime minister’s questions and then he will head to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen and tender his resignation.
When will Theresa May become prime minister?
This is also planned to happen tomorrow afternoon.
As head of state it is the Queen’s duty to appoint the prime minister who leads Her Majesty’s Government.
Mrs May will become the Queen’s 13th prime minister when she accepts the monarch’s offer to form a new government and following tradition will “kiss hands” with the head of state – in reality shaking hands.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) in Cambridge in the morning ahead of the important handover.
Will there be another general election?
The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats have already demanded that a general election is held.
Under the current fixed-term parliament law, passed when the coalition government came into power, there was not meant to be a general election until 2020.
MPs could overturn the law if they wanted, but Mrs May said last week that she would not call a snap election if she became leader.
How have newly-appointed prime ministers managed in the past?
Gordon Brown sparked a “Will he? Won’t he?” election mystery when he entered Downing Street after 10 years as Tony Blair’s chancellor in 2007. Despite Tory claims that he lacked a mandate, he abandoned plans to call a snap election and clung on to power for three years before David Cameron and the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition won in 2010. John Major was elected Tory leader in November 1990 after Margaret Thatcher’s dramatic fall from power. Despite calls for an immediate election, he took the UK into the Gulf War and survived an IRA assassination attempt before going to the polls in April 1992.
He won and spent a further five years in power before Blair’s 1997 New Labour landslide.
James Callaghan took over from Harold Wilson in 1976, after the latter resigned two years into his fourth term in office. He took the country through the Winter of Discontent before going to the polls in 1979 and was heavily defeated by Margaret Thatcher.
And most importantly, does Larry the Number 10 cat get to stay on Downing Street?
Yes. While the Cameron family will have to move out of the grace and favour home, Larry, the Downing Street cat, will continue to live behind the famous front door and keep on top of the mice.
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