That was an emotional end to her address from Theresa May.

Yeah, goodbye under tears.

And that will certainly be one of the enduring images of Theresa May's time in office, because at the end, she all of a sudden showed her humanity, this politician who had been so stoic, so, so stubborn, so relentless in pursuing her goal of as she always called it, delivering Brexit, who never really showed that he was, she was involved, she didn't react to insults, she didn't react to humiliations here in parliament behind us, she just carried on.

But at the end, you could finally see that all this had gotten to her that it was close to her heart and that she was feeling pain and that she finally felt that she had failed and that is a very big feeling when you leave an office like that.

And so this will certainly get close to the hearts of many people in Britain because there is a certain amount of pity for her, many people thought she wasn't up to the job and also that she did not do a good job, it was a difficult task and she didn't do it well, but for her to be leaving like that will touch many people and it has been an emotional end and Alex turning to, you know, Theresa May has been facing pressure for quite a while now going through very difficult times.

Why did she make the announcement today?

Well, it has been building for several months as you said.

And this week in particular, she had crossed a line, if you like, with her party because she wanted to put forward her Brexit bill to parliament, but she had made extra concessions to the opposition to the Labor Party, including the possibility of a second referendum and also promising closer ties with europe.

And that was really disliked.

She saw the resignation of a cabinet minister this week.

Andrea Leadsom Andrea Leadsom, a brexiteer had always remained loyal to Theresa May throughout this period, but she had clearly had enough.

And then finally, her backbenchers calling on her to go again.

She had to go and see the head of that group, the 1922 committee, who basically said, you need to go with dignity, you need to say when you're going now right now, we'll have more on what this means for Brexit in just a bit.

But first, let's take a look at how Theresa May's premiership unraveled.

Even when she tried to be cool, Theresa May couldn't help but look a little stiff, her leadership style earning her the nickname Mabel and it was with the same robotic determination that she would try and push through Brexit when May took over the premiership from David Cameron Britain had just voted to leave Europe May herself had campaigned to remain in the EU Yet, despite her own convictions, she would make it her personal mission to deliver a Brexit deal for the british people.

Following the referendum.

We face a time of great national change.

And I know because we're great Britain that we will rise to the challenge.

As we leave the european Union, we will forge, forge a bold new, positive role for ourselves in the world.

But forging that new role would prove much harder than anticipated.

May's Brexit negotiations appeared to be doomed from the start.

The you loathe to see the UK leave the union made it clear that there would be no cherry picking.

It soon became evident that the Brexit May could deliver was not the Brexit.

Many in Britain had voted for an attempt to get a stronger mandate for her Brexit vision backfired spectacularly after May called snap elections in june 2017, she ended up weaker than before short of a majority in parliament and forced to make a deal with the hardline northern irish D.

U.

P.

In order to govern.

But May wouldn't be deterred smiling through gritted teeth.

She carried on with the task of pushing through Brexit come what May Brexit means Brexit and we're going to make a success of it, Brexit means Brexit.

I'm very clear, Brexit does mean Brexit.

Her empty phrases drawing ridicule from the opposition is even more bizarre.

Soundbites remember when we had Brexit means Brexit then we had liberal Brexit and now we have ambitious managed divergence and she got flak from within her own ranks with several of the key ministers resigning over the Brexit issue finally against all the odds.

And after months of negotiations, London and brussels agreed on a draft Brexit deal.

Eu leaders approved it but May failed to drum up enough support for the deal at home at the last minute she was forced to call off a parliamentary vote after it became clear that she would not get the agreement through a desperate last ditch attempt to meet european leaders followed to try and get some concessions to make the deal more palatable to her critics but to no avail, mutinous members of her own party seized the moment to challenge her leadership but may survive the vote of no confidence amongst Tory mps.

A dogged fight over her deal ensued and Brexit was postponed.

In the end it was too much for May to survive still with me, our correspondent Barbara in London in front of the parliament and in the studio with me Alex forrest writing Alex now people have been waiting for this moment for a while.

It's finally happened.

There's been a flurry of reaction on social media.

Yes, it's been a huge reaction.

I'm just gonna show you a couple.

One is Britain's opposition leader, jeremy Corbyn leader of the Labor Party and he tweeted Theresa May is right to resign.

she's now accepted that the country is known for months, she can't govern and Norco divided and disintegrating party, whoever becomes the new Tory leader must let the people decide our country's future through an immediate general election, something he always calls for.

And then secondly, the former british foreign secretary, Boris johnson, who has already thrown his hat into the ring, a very dignified statement from Theresa May, he tweeted, thank you for your stoical service to our country and the Conservative Party, it is now time to follow her urgings to come together and deliver Brexit, which is what he is clearly still calling for, talking about.

Just a few months ago, people had written him off, That's right.

They felt that he was not a good foreign secretary and he became a bit of a laughing stock, particularly in many european capitals, but he's somebody who never goes away, he's still proving very popular with the Conservative Party membership.

Remember they are the ones who will ultimately decide the fate of who becomes the next leader.

And secondly, many are now realizing that perhaps he is the well known Conservative figure who can take on Nigel Farage.

Nigel Farage really brought about this Brexit situation.

He's the leader of the Brexit party, he's likely to do extremely well in these european elections, the results on sunday and many are now thinking that possibly Boris johnson is the person who can save the Conservative Party from him right, Turning to you now, Barbara, when you think of Theresa May you think of Brexit, what does her departure mean for Brexit?

You've covered the story extensively for us from London.

The problem is with Brexit that even after Theresa May has left, nothing will have changed the conditions in brussels are the same there they say this is the deal, it's on the table, we're not going to reopen it.

So in London, what can the successor to maze in maze office, may it be Boris johnson or maybe somebody else?

What can they really do differently?

The majorities in parliament are what they are.

So they will not change overnight and he will not overnight sort of gain the support of the D.

U.

P.

For instance, the northern irish party without changing anything dramatically in the deal, which he can do.

So it really is a catch 22 he needs to make changes in order to to pass the deal and he can't really make those changes because brussels is against it.

So was the obvious way out of that situation, a hard Brexit.

So many are now expecting that Boris johnson or another successor of the two May might probably just take the easy way out and just slam the door to the european union and walk away and sort of not care about the economic and political consequences in the first instance, that of course is going to cause a lot of pain on both sides of the channel, particularly in Britain and it will be very difficult to sort of live down that decision.

So nothing good in the near future with regard to Brexit for the man or woman who follows Theresa May in office.

Right.

Barbara Weisel outside the british parliament in London an analyst Alex forrest, whiting of Brexit analyst, thank you both very much for sharing your perspectives with us.

So we heard what Barbara had to say about Brexit.

So how is it going down in brussels?

I put that question to DW bureau brussels Bureau chief max Hoffman and asked him if there'd been any reactions to news of Theresa May's resignation.

We've had some reactions by now from leaders in the european Union, they're not really saying anything about the course forward.

So, you have, for example, the german chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose acknowledging acknowledging the decision with respect and still hoping for an orderly Brexit.

So nothing's really changed there.

You have leo Durocher, the Prime Minister of Ireland who of course his country has the most to lose from an in orderly Brexit.

And basically saying that there are a lot of things that will withstand Brexit because the two countries are close partners.

The only one who was a little more precise so far was the french President Emmanuel Macron, one of his spokespeople said that they needed clarity about the future Brexit course of the U.

K.

As quickly as possible.

Alright, You might say, we've heard that one before and it is true, but it tells you something that a certain urgency is felt once again here in brussels and this all of this comes in the middle of european elections, Britain actually voted on those elections in those elections yesterday.

What impact is this political turmoil in the UK had on the campaign?

Yes, it is again over shadowing some of the topics that Europeans actually think are important.

If you look at the list in the polls, what Europeans want to talk about, You have unemployment jobs, Youth unemployment.

Especially some say its migration.

Some say it's climate change and it's not Brexit, but still, this is a topic, as you can see right here, as we are sitting here talking about this, rita, Brexit always makes the news and overshadows everything else.

But there's one good point for the rest of the european union.

It seems to have forged everyone a little closer together than before.

That at least if you look at the approval ratings for the EU in the EU 27.