May finally gets cheered by Tory MPS as she quits with one last swipe at Corbyn

● Prime minister calls on Johnson to deliver a Brexit deal ‘for the whole UK’, leaving office with husband Philip by her side

Theresa May left office with a final appeal to Boris Johnson to strike a Brexit deal and a brutal call on Jeremy Corbyn to follow her lead and consider his own position.

The prime minister, who fought her own party for two years and lost, won a standing ovation from Tory MPS at the end of her final PMQS yesterday and was warmly praised by some of her toughest critics.

But she dispensed with the valedictory tone with an attack on the Labour leader, telling Mr Corbyn in her final answer to him: “As a party leader who has accepted when her time has come, perhaps the time has come for him to do the same.”

Her husband Philip was by her side as she carried out her final duties, standing with her as she gave her final remarks in Downing Street, and watching from the public gallery in the Commons.

Speaking outside Number 10 before heading to Buckingham Palace to give her resignation to the Queen, Mrs May thanked the public for giving her the “chance to serve” and said she hoped “every young girl that has seen a woman prime minister knows that there are no limits to what they can achieve”.

She called on her successor to make it a priority to reach a Brexit settlement “that works for the whole United Kingdom”. Mrs May’s farewell speech was interrupted by a cry of “stop Brexit” from a protester outside – she joked in reply: “I think not.” She offered Mr Johnson her “warm congratulations” and said of his government: “Their successes will be our country’s successes and I hope that they will be many. Their achievements will build on the work of nearly a decade of Conservative or Conservative-led government.”

But she made clear her desire for Mr Johnson to seek a deal on Brexit, having previously warned about the risks of a nodeal departure.

“Much remains to be done – the immediate priority being to complete our exit from the European Union in a way that works for the whole United Kingdom,” she said.

“With success in that task can come a new beginning for our country – a national renewal that can move us beyond the current impasse into the bright future the British people deserve.”

Mrs May was applauded by Number 10 staff and aides gathered in Downing Street

SNP Westminster leader as she walked alongside Mr May to a waiting car that took them to Buckingham Palace. Earlier, Mrs May told MPS she would stay on as MP for Maidenhead, returning to the back benches after 21 years in frontline politics.

Mr Corbyn paid tribute to her “sense of public duty” and said public service “should always be recognised”. Mrs May shook her head as the Labour leader asked her to “help me oppose the reckless plans of her successor”.

One of the warmest tributes came from an unlikely source, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who told Mrs May that “the time for holding her to account has passed”.

“The burdens of office are considerable, the loneliness of leadership can be stark,” Mr Blackford said, adding they had “stood together” over the Salisbury poison attacks and other national security crises.

“She rightly made sure that opposition leaders were informed at key moments in national security,” the SNP MP continued. “Prime minister, I wish you and Philip all the best for the future.”

Mrs May turned down a number of opportunities to criticise her successor. Labour MP Ruth Cadbury said he was “a man who among many things is happy to demonise Muslims, is prepared to chuck our loyal public servants and diplomats under a bus, and promises to sell our country out to Donald Trump and his friends”. The veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman praised Mrs May’s record in combatting human trafficking and domestic violence before offering her “a word of sisterly advice”.

Joking about the former prime minister’s first meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, Ms Harman said: “Sometimes, you just have to be a bit more careful when a man wants to hold your hand.”

And the new Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson asked for “advice she has for women across the country on how to deal with those men who think they can do a better job, but are not prepared to do the actual work”.

After PMQS, parliamentary aides and staff gathered along the route leading to the main Carriage Gates to cheer Mrs May out of Westminster, but her ministerial cars took the back exit.

“She rightly made sure that opposition leaders were informed at key moments in national security. Prime Minister, I wish you and Philip all the best.”

IAN BLACKFORD