Theresa May tells Jeremy Corbyn he should think about resigning too at final PMQs
2 min read
Theresa May urged Jeremy Corbyn to consider resigning too as she clashed with him in the Commons for the last time as Prime Minister.
The outgoing premier delivered the parting shot at the end of her final Prime Minister's Questions before leaving Number 10.
Mrs May said that in their exchanges “no quarter is sought, and none is given”, adding that is “as it should be in our parliamentary democracy”.
She added: "Perhaps I could just finish my exchange with him by saying this.
"As a party leader who has accepted when her time was up, perhaps the time is now for him to do the same."
It echoed a similar call by David Cameron before he stepped down as PM, using one of his last sessions opposite Mr Corbyn in 2016 to say: “It might be in my party’s interests for him to sit there; it is not in the national interest.
“I would say: for heaven’s sake man, go!”
Mrs May’s call was welcomed by former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party in February over what he said was Mr Corbyn's failure to tackle anti-semitism.
He said: “Can I start by associating myself completely with the final answer the Prime Minister gave to the Leader of the Opposition about his need to consider his future.
“And can I tell her this as well… it is absolutely clear to me that the vast majority of Labour MPs agree with her too.”
Mrs May ended her time as a frontbencher in the Commons by saying she has answered 4,500 questions, and in the future looks forward to asking them from the backbenches.
Her voice cracked with emotion as she concluded by saying her duty to her Maidenhead constituents will remain her “greatest motivation”, before exiting he chamber to a standing ovation from Tory MPs.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn hit back at the Prime Minister and Mr Austin and insisted the Labour leader was going nowhere.
He said: "I'm sure that Jeremy is not worried about what Ian Austin is saying. He was elected twice with a very large majority to be leader of the Labour party."
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