Theresa May to end 27-year parliamentary career defined by Brexit chaos
Theresa May is quitting Parliament after 27 years in which she reached the height of political power and hit significant lows.
The UK’s second female prime minister revealed her decision to stand down as MP for Maidenhead to a local newspaper on Friday.
Elected seven times, the 67-year-old has been the Tory MP for the Berkshire constituency since 1997.
She occupied Downing Street from 2016 to 2019, a period of extraordinary tumult in British politics in the wake of the Brexit vote.
When she entered No 10, Mrs May was seen as the “safe pair of hands” supposed to successfully negotiate a departure agreement with the European Union.
Steely and principled with the brisk, no-nonsense air of a school headmistress, she had already survived six years as home secretary, the longest holder in more than 60 years of an office
