Theresa May: Colleagues say ex-PM will be 'sorely missed'

Theresa May was Prime Minister from 2016 to 2019

Compliments have flooded in for former Prime Minister Theresa May after she announced she would be standing down as an MP.

The Conservative politician, who has represented Maidenhead in Berkshire for 27 years, said she would be giving up her seat in the next general election.

Former colleagues said she would be "sorely missed" in her role.

But during her time as PM, she was also criticised for failing to win support for her Brexit withdrawal deal.

Making the announcement on Friday, Mrs May said leaving the seat had been a "difficult decision".

Mrs May speaks at the opening of a new forecourt at Maidenhead railway station

Simon Dudley, former Conservative leader of Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, said she would be "sorely missed".

"Sometimes people say Theresa's a bit cold - but I've always found her to have a very dry wit," he said.

May was his constituency's MP for the whole time he was in the role.

"It's been an honour to see her progress from just being a backbench MP, to being Home Secretary, to being Prime Minister - where she did a great job in the hardest of conditions."

May leaving a church service, near her Maidenhead constituency, in 2019

Chris Wilkins, former chief speechwriter to Theresa May said she worked "incredibly hard".

"I've worked for a lot of politicians over the years, but she is the one that really embodied that sense of service and duty."

He said her role as Maidenhead MP was the job she loved more than anything.

"It was being on the streets of Maidenhead, meeting people, going to the dry cleaners... because she felt that was kind of what kept her grounded."

• From MP to PM: Theresa May's local legacy

• The Theresa May story

• Theresa May: My Brexit deal would have been better

BBC South political reporter, Patrick O'Hagan, said: "Many former Prime Ministers walk away from politics as soon as their time is up, but Mrs May remained a committed local MP.

"History won't be kind to her though. Her inability to pull the various factions of the Tory party together and get Brexit done, as someone once said, cost both her and her party dearly."

Mrs May said it had been an 'honour and privilege' to be MP for Maidenhead

Geoff Hill, former head of the Maidenhead Conservative Association, worked with Mrs May during the EU referendum in 2016.

He said he had been "taken aback" by the announcement that she was stepping down - but that he respected her decision.

He said: "Theresa, to my mind, is best known for being an excellent constituency MP and she leaves some very big shoes to fill."

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