Former British PM May will retire from politics

Theresa May, the former British prime minister whose time in Downing Street was scarred by a protracted battle over Brexit, is to leave Parliament at the next general election after 27 years as a lawmaker.

With the Conservative Party trailing badly in opinion polls before an election that many analysts expect it to lose, Ms. May is the most senior of the approximately 60 lawmakers from the party who have so far announced plans to leave Parliament.

Ms. May, Britain’s second female prime minister, said in a statement to her local newspaper that she had “taken the difficult decision” to stand aside because she no longer felt she could represent voters in her district of Maidenhead in the way they deserved.