Leadsom quits Conservative leadership race

Andrea Leadsom, the South Northamptonshire MP and Minister of State for Energy has dramatically pulled out of the race to become the leader of the Conservative Party saying that businesses need assurance, post-EU Referendum.

Announcing her decision to pull out of the contest, Leadsom said: “A  nine-week leadership campaign is highly undesirable. The government must move quickly. It is essential that current EU workers in the UK and businesses that employ know where they stand.

“We need a new Prime Minister in place as quickly as possible. Theresa May is ideally places to implement Brexit on the best possible terms. I assure her of my full support.”

Leadsom, a former Barclays trader, bore the brunt of some fierce criticism over the weekend after she intimated in a newspaper interview that she would make a better leader than rival Theresa May because she was a mother.

The news leaves the way clear for Theresa May to become the leader of the Conservative Party and the new Prime Minister.