LONDON (REUTERS) - British Housing Minister Kit Malthouse withdrew from a race to replace Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday (June 4), saying he was a "realist" who saw that there was an appetite for the contest to be over as quickly as possible.

"The last few days have demonstrated that there is an appetite for this contest to be over quickly and for the nation to have a new leader in place as soon as possible," Mr Malthouse, who was not a frontrunner, said in a statement on Twitter.

"As such, it seems right to me that I withdraw my candidature."