Former UK PM David Cameron resigns as MP: 'I don't want to be a distraction

"With a heavy heart" David Cameron said he would step down as an MP so that he "would not be a distraction." Mr. Cameron, said his role as an MP had been an "honor and privilege" and that he was going to continue living locally and contributing to his community "and the country I love so much."Quizzed on his support for new Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr. Cameron said she had his "full support" and Mrs. May had got off to a "cracking start."

Cameron was never in a good place following his decision to call the referendum over the UK's membership of the European Union on June 23, 2016. It was a manifesto pledge in the 2015 general election that he was forced to make after a long-running pro- and anti-EU split within his party as well as the rise of the euroskeptic UK Independent Party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage.The huge rise in anti-Brussels sentiment threatened to split his party ahead of the 2015 election, but his fatal flaw was promising to hold a referendum anytime before December 2017, but then calling it early on June 23, 2016. This was his first mistake. He had been advised to call it ahead of the hustings for the French and German elections in 2017.

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Photo:© REUTERS/ Peter Nicholls