David Cameron, former PM and soon to be former MP | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images David Cameron to resign as MP Former British PM to leave the House of Commons.

LONDON — David Cameron, who quit as British prime minister after the country voted to leave the European Union, on Monday announced he will be resigning as a member of parliament.

Going back on an earlier commitment to stay in the House of Commons, Cameron said he would be standing down from his constituency seat of Witney in Oxfordshire with "immediate effect."

Cameron had been expected to serve out the rest of the parliamentary term as a backbench MP.

But speaking in his constituency Monday, Cameron said he would have found it “very difficult if not impossible” to carry out his work as an MP without being an “enormous distraction and diversion” from the work of the government.

He said he had informed Theresa May, the new prime minister, of his decision and received her support.

Before the Brexit vote, Cameron had planned to stay on as prime minister until shortly before the 2020 general election. He told a radio station in Oxfordshire in March that it was “very much my intention” to continue as an MP beyond 2020.

His decision comes days after May launched her first major policy offensive, with a call for the expansion of selective schools — a direction that Cameron was opposed to.

Asked whether his decision was a snub to May, Cameron told reporters: “Obviously I’m going to have my own views about different issues, people know that and that’s really the point. As a former prime minister it is very difficult to sit as a backbencher and not be an enormous distraction and diversion from what the government is doing.”

However, Cameron said he fully supported May’s premiership, adding that she had “got off to a great start.”

Paying tribute to his local party and constituents, he said he would continue to live in the area.

“I’m going to have to build a life outside Westminster,” he said. “I hope I’ll continue to contribute in terms of public service and contribute to this country that I love so much.”

In a statement issued in response to Cameron’s resignation, May said the Conservatives had “achieved great things” under his leadership.

“His commitment to lead a one nation government is one that I will continue – and I thank him for everything he has done for the Conservative party and the country,” she said.

Former Chancellor George Osborne, Cameron’s closest political ally and, until the Brexit vote, the favorite to succeed him, paid tribute to his “great friend.”

“We came into Parliament together, had a great partnership + I will miss him alongside me on the green benches over the coming years. Sad day” he posted on Twitter.

The last Prime Minister to resign from their constituency seat so soon after quitting Downing Street was Tony Blair, who stood down from both positions in June 2007. Gordon Brown, the last Labour Prime Minister, served a full parliamentary term as a backbench MP after losing the 2010 General Election to Cameron.

Blair’s predecessor, Conservative prime minister John Major, also stayed on as an MP until 2001, after being ousted in 1997. Even Margaret Thatcher, whose resignation in 1990 brought an end to an 11-year reign, served as a backbench MP until the next election in 1992.

A by-election will now be held in Witney, a safe Conservative seat.

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