Theresa May resigns: From a catastrophic conference speech to awkward dancing, the key moments in her political career

Prime minister says she will step down on 7 June after a 22-year career in national politics

Theresa May has announced that she will step down as prime minister within weeks.

Under mounting pressure from her own ministers and MPs, Ms May said she plans to quit as Conservative leader on 7 June.

She will stay on as prime minister until a successor is elected, meaning she is likely leave No10 in mid-July, after three years in office.

It will mark the end of a 20-year political career that included a long spell as home secretary.

Here are the highs and lows of Ms May's time in politics.

1 May 1997 - After two previous failed bids to enter parliament, Theresa May is elected as Conservative MP for Maidenhead.

7 October 2002 - As chairman of the Conservative Party, Ms May famously warns the party faithful at their annual conference that the Conservatives risk being seen as "the nasty party". She says: "There's a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us - the nasty party."

12 May 2010 - Ms May, previously the shadow work and pensions secretary, is appointed as home secretary in David Cameron's coalition government. She proves to be a controversial minister, particularly over the Home Office's attempts to create a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants - a policy that is later blamed for the Windrush scandal.

25 April 2016 - Making her only major intervention in the Brexit referendum campaign, Ms May argues in favour of Remain, saying that staying in the EU will make Britain "more secure from crime and terrorism". Her speech is carefully worded, however, and does not dismiss many of the arguments being made by Leave campaigners.

30 June 2016 - Ms May launches her campaign to succeed David Cameron as prime minister, after he resigns in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. She promises that, under her leadership, Britain will leave the EU rather than "remain through the back door”. She says: “The country voted to leave the European Union, and it is the duty of the government and of parliament to make sure we do just that."

11 July 2016 - She becomes the prime minister in waiting after her only remaining rival, Andrea Leadsom, withdraws from the contest following a controversial newspaper interview in which she appears to suggest that she would make a better prime minister than Ms May because she has children.

13 July 2016 - Moments before entering No10 for the first time as prime minister, Ms May gives a speech in Downing Street in which she pledges to fight “burning injustices” in Britain. Promising to build "a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us", she tells the British public: "I know you’re working around the clock, I know you’re doing your best, and I know that sometimes life can be a struggle. The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours."

2 October 2016 - In her first Conservative Party conference speech as prime minister, Ms May announces her red lines for negotiations with the EU on Brexit. She promises that freedom of movement and the jurisdiction of European courts in the UK will end when Britain leaves the bloc, and vows to start the two-year Article 50 Brexit process within six months

18 April 2017 - Ms May surprises everyone except her closest advisers by calling a snap general election for 8 June. She says: "We need a general election and we need one now. I have only recently and reluctantly come to this conclusion but now I have concluded it is the only way to guarantee certainty for the years ahead.”

22 May 2017 - Amid a mounting backlash against the Conservatives' policy on social care, which would see elderly people having to pay more, Ms May is forced to announce a rethink. She loses her temper during a press conference, angrily insisting: "Nothing has changed." It marks a new low for the Tories' struggling campaign.

4 June 2017 - The prime minister responds to the third terrorist attack in Britain in three months. After deadly attacks in Westminster and Manchester, seven people are killed by near London Bridge. Ms May says “enough is enough” and declares: “Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time.”

8 June 2017 - Ms May unexpectedly loses her Commons majority at the general election. She is forced to make a pact with the DUP to prop her up in parliament. Shortly afterwards, she tells Tory MPs: "I got us into this mess and I will get us out of it."

15 June 2017 - In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, the prime minister is criticised for not meeting victims during a visit to the site the following day. Days later, she is booed when she does finally meet with victims of the tragedy. She later admits her initial response was "not good enough".

3 October 2017 - One of her lowest points as prime minister. Ms May’s speech to the Conservative Party conference descends into farces as it is interrupted by a prankster, several prolonged coughing fits and the backdrop behind her falling apart. The speech was intended to reassert her authority, but further weakens her position.

6 July 2018 - Ms May gathers her cabinet at her Chequers country retreat to thrash out a proposal for the UK's future relationship with the EU after Brexit. But she loses two senior ministers within hours, as foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis resign in protest at the plan.

3 October 2018 - Her third and, as it turns out, final speech as leader to the Conservative Party conference. She stuns everyone by appearing on stage dancing to the tune of Abba's 'Dancing Queen' - a joke about a recent trip to Africa, where she was mocked for her dancing skills.

14 November 2018 - The cabinet approves the Brexit deal that the prime minister has negotiated with the EU. The deal is published but is immediately criticised by Tory Eurosceptics, who say it would keep the UK too closely aligned with the EU. The Northern Ireland backstop, which dictates what would happen to the Northern Ireland border if a trade deal with the EU cannot be agreed, becomes the main point of contention. It will ultimately prove to be the downfall of the deal - and of Ms May.

25 November 2018 - Ms May travels to Brussels for a European Council meeting at which EU leaders approve the Brexit deal. The prime minister says the plan "delivered for the British people" and sets the UK "on course for a prosperous future".

10 December 2018 - The prime minister postpones the "meaningful vote" in the Commons on her Brexit deal after it becomes clear that she will lose. Addressing MPs, she admits that the plan "would be rejected by a significant margin" if the vote went ahead.

12 December 2018 - A vote of no confidence in Ms May's leadership is held after the required number of Tory MPs demanding a ballot passes the threshold of 48. Ms May comfortably sees off the attempt to oust her, winning the vote by 200 to 117.

15 January 2019 - In the first vote on Ms May's Brexit deal, MPs defeat the plan by 432 votes to 202 - a margin of 230 votes. It is the biggest House of Commons defeat in history.

16 January 2019 - Jeremy Corbyn calls a vote of no confidence in the government. The House of Commons spends most of the day debating the confidence motion, but Ms May wins by 325 votes to 306.

12 March 2019 - The prime minister puts her Brexit deal to a second vote in the Commons. It is comprehensively rejected again, albeit by a smaller margin of 149.

21 March 2019 - With no prospect of passing and implementing her deal in time to meet the 29 March Brexit deadline, Ms May travels to Brussels to seek an extension to the Article 50 process. The EU agrees to a short delay until 22 May if parliament approves an exit deal before the end of March, but says the UK must leave the bloc on 12 April if it does not.

29 March 2019 - In a third attempt to win parliamentary support for her deal, Ms May splits the withdrawal agreement element of the plan from the declaration on the future EU-UK relationship. The attempt again ends in failure. Despite winning over dozens more Conservative MPs, the withdrawal agreement is rejected by 344 votes to 286, a margin of 58.

10 April 2019 - Ms May has failed to secure MPs' backing for her withdrawal deal, and is forced to return to Brussels to seek a further extension to Brexit. She wants to delay only until the end of June, but EU leaders insist on a longer extension, until 31 October. They give the UK the option of leaving before this date if parliament finds a way to approve a Brexit deal.

21 May 2019 - In a last throw of the dice, Ms May delivers a speech announcing a number of compromises on her original Brexit deal, which she hopes will win the support of wavering MPs. The speech has the opposite effect, sparking fury among Tory MPs. Her Commons leader, Andrea Leadsom resigns, and other senior cabinet ministers ask for private meetings with the prime minister to tell her that they cannot support the deal. Pressure mounts on the executive of 1922 Committee, which represents Tory MPs, to change party rules to allow another vote of confidence in Ms May.

24 May 2019 - Speaking on the steps of Downing Street less than three years after taking office, Ms May announces that she will stand down as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June. She says she will stay on as prime minister until a successor is chosen, which is expected to take around two months. Her voice cracks as she says: "I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold – the second female prime minister but certainly not the last. I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love."