May time

THEY campaigned to Leave, and they were as good as their word. Three weeks on from their referendum triumph, the politicians who led the charge for Britain to quit the European Union have fallen by the wayside in the race to replace David Cameron as prime minister. This week the last of the prominent Leavers, Andrea Leadsom, withdrew her candidacy after a few days’ media scrutiny revealed her to be fantastically ill-prepared. The job of steering Britain towards the EU’s exit doors has thus fallen to the only candidate left in the race: Theresa May, who campaigned to Remain.Mrs May’s path to power was easier than that of most prime ministers, but her time in office will be the hardest stint in decades (see ). Extricating Britain from the EU will be the diciest diplomatic undertaking in half a century. The wrangling at home will be no easier: whatever divorce settlement Britain ends up with is likely to be deeply unsatisfactory even to those who voted to Leave. Popular anger will not be soothed by the recession into which the country is probably heading. It will take a gifted politician to lead Britain through this turbulent period.