THERESA MAY took over as Britain’s new prime minister Wednesday, charged with pulling the country out of the EU, and sprang a surprise by making top Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson foreign secretary.

    May replaced David Cameron after he stood down following the seismic June 23 vote to leave the European Union, which sparked three weeks of intense political turmoil and volatility on the financial markets.

    May, who had supported Britain’s continued EU membership, moved quickly to heal divisions sparked by the referendum by appointing leading “Leave” campaigner Johnson to a senior Cabinet post.

    But the decision to name Johnson, the eccentric former London mayor, to the high-profile post of representing Britain to the rest of the world is likely to cause controversy.

    Johnson led the Brexit camp to victory, antagonizing many EU leaders in the process, but dismayed supporters by backing out of the race to succeed Cameron at the last minute.

    May ditched Finance Minister George Osborne, Cameron’s closest ally, and appointed former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to the job instead, charging him with the task of calming fears over the potential damage of leaving Britain’s biggest market.

    Eurosceptic former ministers David Davis and Liam Fox were appointed respectively as Brexit negotiator and minister for international trade, two new posts reflecting changed priorities after the referendum.

    May, 59, assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove to her new home of No. 10 Downing Street.

    “We will rise to the challenge. As we leave the European Union we will forge a bold new positive role for ourselves in the world, and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us,” she said.

    May must try to limit the damage to British trade and investment as she renegotiates the country’s ties with its 27 EU partners. She will also attempt to unite a divided ruling Conservative party and a fractured nation in which many, on the evidence of the vote, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the forces of globalization.

    Acknowledging the struggles faced by many Britons, May declared: “The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives.

    “When we take the big calls we’ll think not of the powerful but you, when we pass new laws we’ll listen not to the mighty but to you, when it comes to taxes we’ll prioritize not the wealthy but you.”(SD-Agencies)

    (More on P8)

    The United States congratulated May and said it was confident in her ability to steer Britain through the Brexit negotiations.

    “Based on the public comments we’ve seen from the incoming prime minister, she intends to pursue a course that’s consistent with the prescription that President Obama has offered,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

    An official photograph showed May curtseying to a smiling Queen Elizabeth, for whom she is the 13th prime minister in a line that started with Winston Churchill.

    She is also Britain’s second female head of government after Margaret Thatcher.

    (SD-Agencies)