David Cameron Resigns As MP With Immediate Effect

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The former British Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned from Parliament with immediate effect.

Cameron says he stood down as he didn’t want to become a ‘distraction’ from the government https://t.co/1EpCAomb0w pic.twitter.com/PvhhKdSNqB

— ITV News (@itvnews) September 12, 2016

He told ITV News that he had thought “long and hard” about the decision but did not want to be a “distraction” from Theresa May’s new government. “I have to start to build a life outside Westminster,” he added.

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The 49-year-old said that the current PM, Mrs May, was “very understanding” of his dramatic decision and said she would be a “strong” Prime Minister.

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Cameron left Downing Street two months ago following the EU referendum, but vowed he would stay on the backbenches until 2020.

RT reports:

Cameron was described as “the worst prime minister in a hundred years” by the Independent’s parliamentary sketch writer Tom Peck shortly after his resignation as PM.

For some, the former PM’s legacy was ruined overnight when his gamble to keep Britain in the EU and silence a rebellious minority of strongly anti-EU Tory MPs failed spectacularly and led to Brexit.

David Cameron’s resignation statement as an MP in full: https://t.co/7h1puUDcRz pic.twitter.com/RjLsiPgOjK

— Jon Stone (@joncstone) September 12, 2016

Up until that point Cameron had faced down the threat of an independent Scotland and won a general election with enough members to form the first Conservative majority government since John Major’s.

The Eton-educated son of an investment banker paid the ultimate political price for his overconfidence.

For others, Cameron’s legacy was always going to be a terrible one.

Coming to power under the banner of ‘Broken Britain,’ Britain’s youngest prime minister in almost 200 years unleashed a wave of austerity policies so harsh even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged him rein it in.

These policies resulted in hundreds of thousands of job losses in the public sector as government departments and local councils were forced to slash their budgets.