question: why did Theresa May resign?
comment: The Britons who want to leave the EU have been told that leaving would give them lower costs, fewer immigrants, and the same sort of government services. To deliver on this promise, anyone will have to get the EU to agree. Alas, the EU has absolutely no reason to want to agree to this. Ms. May spent many months defining an agreement the EU is willing to approve, and has failed 4+ times to get the UK Parliament to agree to it. She is giving up. People are mad at her for failing. The real problem is that the people who made the promise, the **Leave** people, made a promise that nobody believes can be delivered upon. **Leave** promised that the EU would agree to the UK's proposed terms, and this is simply never going to happen. Why do I say "never"? There is a special problem, Northern Ireland. NI is on the same island as Ireland, an EU member. In NI is "out" and Ireland is "in", then there must be a controlled border between them. Alas, for many years, when there was such a border, it was a disaster for the island. The Leave people claimed: a) there would be no hard border between NI and Ireland; and b) NI could remain part of the UK. These two things are mutually exclusive, unless the UK somehow forces Ireland to leave the EU also. The Brits forcing the Irish to do things is the root cause of too many Troubles for that to be seriously considered. TL;DR. The **Leave** people sold a lie to the UK voters, and May is in trouble because she was in charge when they got caught.
passages: The Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, resigned from May's cabinet with a "heavy heart" on the eve of the European election, saying she could no longer back the government's Brexit plan.
  
  Section::::Second term (2017–2019).:Huawei 5G network row.
   On February 28, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, George Eustice, resigned from May's government over her promise to allow MPs a vote on delaying Brexit if her Brexit deal is rejected. In his resignation letter, Eustice said "I fear that developments this week will lead to a sequence of events culminating in the EU dictating the terms of any extension requested and the final humiliation of our country."
   The Grenfell Tower fire, Windrush scandal, Universal Credit and Brexit all caused problems for May's government in its second term. Potential candidates for a future general election were reluctant to put their names forward in the early days of the term. Suspected reasons at the time included being demoralized by May's premiership and lack of confidence that the Conservatives will win at the next election.
   Corbyn and Farron called on May to resign. On 9 June, May apologised to candidates who lost their seats and confirmed she would continue as party leader and prime minister, with the intention of forming a minority government with support from the Democratic Unionist Party in order to ensure "certainty". May's joint chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill resigned, replaced by Gavin Barwell, who had lost his seat in the election.
   It was widely reported that Jeremy Hunt was due to be moved from the Department for Health to become Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, but refused. Instead he defended his position as Health Secretary and convinced May to allow him to remain in post, and for "Social Care" to be added to the name of his department. After considerable speculation that Justine Greening would lose her job as Education Secretary, she refused the offer of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and chose instead to resign from the government.
  
  Section::::Reaction.
   On 21 May, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party, Theresa May made a speech outlining her plan to introduce an EU withdrawal agreement bill in June that would allow the Commons to make amendments, "e.g." in favour of a Customs Union or a second referendum, but this was received badly by much of her own party as well as by other parties. There were growing calls for her to resign on 22 May, the day before the election. Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House of Commons, resigned on the evening of 22 May. May had planned to publish the bill on Friday 24 May, but on polling day, she abandoned that plan, with publication delayed until early June. May announced the day after the vote that she would resign as party leader on 7 June.
   BULLET::::- Theresa May announced her resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the 24th May after her party (the Conservative Party) called for her to step down because of her inability to secure a Brexit deal. This is the second-consecutive Conservative resignation under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II last seen when Anthony Eden resigned in 1957. May will resign officially as Prime Minister on the week beginning the 22nd July.
   The Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, Theresa May, had announced her intention to resign before the next general election, but further pressure mounted on her to be clear about her timetable for departure, with May meeting the party's 1922 Committee on the matter on 16 May 2019. This resulted in May agreeing to stand down by 30 June 2019. Campaigning by possible successors accelerated after the local elections.
  
  Section::::Campaign.:UKIP.
   In April 2018, May's hostile environment policy became the focus of British politics in what came to be known as the Windrush scandal, in which members of the Windrush generation of Afro-Caribbean Britons were threatened with deportation by the Home Office and in at least 83 cases, illegally deported from the UK. The policy also affected the lives of many thousands of people who were in the United Kingdom legally by causing them to be sacked from employment , preventing access to health care, illegally demanding money exiling them and preventing their return to the UK , and leaving them destitute. The scandal led to the resignation of May's successor Amber Rudd as Home Secretary, and her replacement by Sajid Javid. Responding to questions in Parliament on the Windrush scandal on 25 April, May maintained that the hostile environment policy would remain government policy.
   On 27 March 2019, May said she would resign before the next stage of EU negotiations if her Brexit deal was passed. With no resolution around Brexit plans, there was continuing pressure for May to resign through April 2019.
   BULLET::::- Following allegations of sexual misconduct, Michael Fallon resigned from his post of Defence Secretary on 1 November 2017. He was replaced by Gavin Williamson. Williamson was replaced as Chief Whip by Julian Smith.
  
  BULLET::::- After it was revealed that Priti Patel held unsanctioned meetings with Israeli politicians and officials whilst on a family holiday, thereby violating the Ministerial Code, she was forced to resign from her post of International Development Secretary on 8 November 2017. She was replaced by Penny Mordaunt.
   On 17 May, Labour left talks that had been held to find a Brexit deal with the Conservative government. May then proposed to bring a new deal to the House of Commons for a vote in early June, which she described as an "improved package of measures", after which she is expected to step down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.
   Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn tweeted that it was "right" for May to have left her post, and used the opportunity to call for an early general election. He later said he could understand the "stress" May was going through. Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said that May had an "unenviably difficult job" and deemed that "she did it badly."
  
  Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable responded with a similar message to Labour, saying "she [May] was right to recognise that her administration had reached the end of the road."
   Speculation about a leadership election first arose following the party's poor showing at the 2017 snap general election. May had called it in hope of increasing her parliamentary majority for Brexit negotiations. However, the Conservatives lost their overall majority in the House of Commons. Subsequent speculation arose from the difficulties May was having in getting a Brexit deal acceptable to the Conservative Party. These increased in November 2018, with members of the Eurosceptic European Research Group pushing for a vote of no confidence in May, which was defeated in December 2018. In early 2019, Parliament repeatedly voted against May's proposed deal, leading to her resignation.
   The European Commission said that President Jean-Claude Juncker lauded May as "a woman of courage," and that he viewed her resignation "without personal joy."
  
  Section::::Second term (2017–2019).:Donald Trump state visit.
   In one of May's last Prime Minister's Questions, Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, urged May not to "cut and run" and instead reconsider her resignation. May responded by saying she would return to the role of a backbench MP after leaving office.
  
  Section::::Prime Minister.:Public opinion.
  
  May had a high approval rating during her first week as Prime Minister. The results of an Ipsos MORI survey released in July 2016 indicated that 55% of those surveyed believed that May was a suitable PM while only 23% believed that the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn would make a good Prime Minister.
   In a post-election reshuffle carried out on 11 June, May promoted her close ally Damian Green to become First Secretary of State and brought Michael Gove into the cabinet as Environment Secretary, making Andrea Leadsom Leader of the House of Commons. Liz Truss, David Lidington and David Gauke changed roles, while eleven cabinet members including key figures such as Boris Johnson, Amber Rudd, Michael Fallon, Philip Hammond and David Davis remained in post.
   On 21 May, May made a speech outlining her plan to introduce an EU withdrawal agreement bill in June that would allow the Commons to make amendments, such as amendments in favour of a Customs Union or a second referendum, but this was received badly by much of her own party as well as by other parties. There were growing calls for her to resign on 22 May, the day before the European Parliament elections. Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House of Commons, resigned that day. May had planned to publish the bill on 24 May, but on polling day (23 May) she abandoned that plan, with publication delayed until early June. On 24 May, she announced her resignation as leader of the Conservative Party, effective 7 June 2019.
   On 12 December 2018, May faced a vote of no confidence in her leadership over opposition to her negotiated Brexit deal from the Conservative Party, after the number of Conservative MPs exceeded the 48 no-confidence letter threshold that the 1922 Committee Chairman, Sir Graham Brady required for one to be held. May won the vote with 200 Conservative MPs voting for her, compared to 117 voting against. As part of her speech to the Parliamentary Conservative Party before the no-confidence vote was opened, it was reported that May conceded that she would step down as Prime Minister after delivering Brexit and would not lead the Conservative Party into the next General Election in exchange for Conservative MP's voting to have confidence in her leadership so that she would be able to keep the party, Parliament and the UK stable during the final stages of Brexit. May later confirmed this to BBC News Political editor, Laura Kuenssberg after meeting EU leaders, including Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.
   On 27 March 2019 at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, May confirmed that she will "not lead the UK in the next stage of Brexit negotiations", meaning she was expected to resign after the third meaningful vote, if it had passed successfully. However, no date was stated, and her reported wording was ambiguous and thus carried no binding force. On 29 March, the third meaningful vote was defeated, and while May did not state anything in regards to standing down, Corbyn stated that if May could not find an alternative to her deal "she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future but now."
   That same day, 23 May 2019, European elections were held in the UK.
  
  On 24 May 2019, Theresa May announced her resignation, that she would step down as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June, and once a new Tory leader is selected, she would also resign as Prime Minister.
   On 27 March 2019 at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, May confirmed that she will "not lead the UK in the next stage of Brexit negotiations", meaning she was expected to resign after the third meaningful vote, if it had passed successfully. However, no date was stated, and her reported wording was ambiguous and thus carried no binding force. On 29 March, the third meaningful vote was defeated, and while May did not state anything in regards to standing down, Corbyn stated that if May could not find an alternative to her deal "she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future but now."
   Upon becoming Prime Minister, May appointed former Mayor of London Boris Johnson to Foreign Secretary, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd to Home Secretary, and former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis to the newly created office of "Brexit Secretary." Her choice of Boris Johnson for foreign secretary raised eyebrows, and drew some criticism from the press. Liam Fox and Philip Hammond, both of whom had previously served as Secretary of State for Defence (Fox in 2010–11 and Hammond in 2011–14), with Hammond having served as Foreign Secretary in 2014–16, were appointed to the newly created office of International Trade Secretary and Chancellor, respectively. Replacing Michael Gove, Elizabeth Truss was made Justice Secretary, the "first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the role". Andrea Leadsom, who was energy minister and May's primary competitor for party leader, was made the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. However, former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers resigned from Cabinet after May offered her a post which was "not one which I felt I could take on".
   List of departures from the second May ministry
  
  This is a list of resignations from the second government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May. Since forming a Conservative minority government on 11 June 2017, May has faced a significant number of front bench resignations. These have included 16 departures from the Cabinet, including three from the Great Offices of State. She had 60 ministerial departures with 42 of these being resignations due to Brexit discord. Theresa May herself resigned on 24 July, with Boris Johnson being appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II shortly after. 
   May's first Cabinet appointment was described by Reuters as "one of the most sweeping government reshuffles for decades", and called "a brutal cull" by "The Daily Telegraph". Nine of Cameron's ministers, including several prominent members, were sacked or resigned from their posts. The early appointments were interpreted both as an effort to reunite the Conservative Party in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU and as "a shift to the right," according to "The Guardian". ITV's Political Editor Robert Peston commented: "Her rhetoric is more left-wing than Cameron's was, her cabinet is more right-wing than his was." Although May had supported remaining in the EU, she appointed several of the most prominent advocates of Brexit to key Cabinet positions responsible for negotiating the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, including Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, David Davis as Brexit Secretary, and Liam Fox as International Trade Secretary, the latter two being new positions. Other key appointees included Amber Rudd as Home Secretary and Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
  