LONDON: After the failure of his high-stakes referendum gamble, David Cameron's legacy as the prime minister who took Britain out of the European Union was sealed Friday with his resignation.
Cameron promised the referendum to try and unite his Conservative party but the result means Britain becomes the first country ever to leave the bloc and raises questions about the future unity of the United Kingdom.
In announcing his intention to quit, Cameron said he had put his "head, heart and soul" into the "Remain" campaign so had little option but to go after voters rejected EU membership by 52 percent to 48 percent.
As the referendum campaign took on an increasingly anti-establishment, anti-elite tone, the polished authority of Cameron, supported by big hitters from US President Barack Obama to the International Monetary Fund, struggled to cut through.
Financial Times commentator Janan Ganesh wrote that Cameron must now "prepare to be remembered for inadvertently presiding over the end of his country's 43-year place in the European project -- and for nothing else."
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