Entertainment

From ‘hot lectern guy’ to Larry the cat: Twitter reacts to May’s resignation

The memes and gifs were flowing freely after Theresa May announced her intention to stand down as Tory leader.
The memes and gifs were flowing freely after Theresa May announced her intention to stand down as Tory leader.

After Theresa May announced she would stand down as leader of the Conservative Party, Twitter users flocked to social media to react to the news.

The jokes began to fly before Mrs May had even stepped through the door at 10 Downing Street when a worker took to the road to set up the lectern.

“I welcome our FIT new prime minister,” one Twitter user wrote.

Preparing the lectern wasn’t the only piece of housekeeping required before the Prime Minister emerged, with Larry the cat swiftly removed before proceedings got under way.

However, after Mrs May said it was in the “best interests of the country” for a new prime minister to lead efforts to deliver Brexit, attention swiftly turned to who might replace her.

Could Larry’s experience stand him in good stead?

“If Boris Johnson is running, then people deserve a serious candidate too,” a parody Larry the Cat account tweeted.

Others looked to Game Of Thrones, which concluded earlier in the week, for guidance on the UK’s next PM.

Has Boris Johnson pulled a Bran Stark? The wheelchair-bound GoT character ended up on the throne in the HBO programme’s finale.

Bran was famed for his visions, and it was Labour MP Jess Phillips who appeared to have the power of foresight ahead of Mrs May’s announcement.

“I’ve been terrible at predictions for last two years but I predicted Sam in Game of Thrones would invent democracy and that May would resign today,” the MP for Birmingham Yardley tweeted.

CBBC character Hacker and comedian Kathy Burke decided to jokingly nominate themselves.

On the subject of party leadership, however, one Twitter user suggested: “If you are crazy enough to want to be Prime Minister in current circumstances, you should be disqualified from running” referring to the Catch 22 principle.

Football Twitter is never far away from the jokes, and sports writer Jonathan Liew demonstrated as much with his player rating for Mrs May.

“Theresa May (sub, 75 mins) – Tried hard but struggled to make an impact. 5” he tweeted.

Football Manager enthusiast Jonny Sharples gave Mrs May’s resignation the FM treatment.

The outgoing Prime Minister’s voice broke towards the end of her speech, but it’s fair to say social media wasn’t entirely convinced.

And @Sewingloon engaged in some first-class wordplay, tweeting: “I guess you can really say that ‘June is the end of May'” with Mrs May set to resign as Tory leader on June 7.

But with everybody speculating about who the next PM might be, perhaps Twitter’s trending list can be of assistance.

Arsene Wenger for PM? Stranger things have happened.