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 British prime minister can be heard humming a couple of notes to himself as he walks back to Number 10 after confirming he will resign on Wednesday 
 
 David Cameron hums a merry tune as he hands over to Theresa May 
 
 
 
 British prime minister David Cameron was heard humming a tune as he walked back into No 10 on Monday, minutes after announcing that he would resign as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 After singing to himself on the way to the door, he was heard saying “right” and removing the microphone that had recorded his private moment. 
 
 Some speculated that it sounded like the start of the West Wing theme, while ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, suggested that it was a Winnie the Pooh-style ditty. 
 
 Robert Peston (@Peston) .@David_Cameron humming a Winnie-the-Pooh style hum as he says goodbye to the cares of office. pic.twitter.com/kcydnLZBg4 
 
 Alastair Stewart (@alstewitn) Was @David_Cameron humming opening notes to the 'Dam Busters' theme? Their motto,'Apres moi le deluge'. Its raining heavily in Hampshire. 
 
 Classic FM, a British radio station, analysed the notes and declared they were “Beethoven-esque”. 
 
 Richard W Collins (@richardwcollins) Cameron's humming: ClassicFM pronounces it to be "Wagnerian fanfare, Beethoven-esque harmonic doubt and then a... https://t.co/vcLExgr66o 
 
 Some on Twitter saw Cameron’s relaxed demeanour as a sign he was pleased to be leaving Downing Street amid the chaos of the Brexit vote aftermath. 
 
 Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) Somebody's happy to be done with this country. David Cameron humming to himself after press conference https://t.co/PQZ2hjISWz ||||| Back in July, after Britain voted to leave the European Union, then-Prime Minister David Cameron was delivering a brief address about the incoming Conservative Party Leader and his replacement, Theresa May, to the media outside his home. But then he hummed. Let’s have a listen to the Prime Minister’s self-composed opus: 
 
 .@David_Cameron humming a Winnie-the-Pooh style hum as he says goodbye to the cares of office. pic.twitter.com/kcydnLZBg4 — Robert Peston (@Peston) July 11, 2016 
 
 And this is roughly what we think he was humming: 
 
 Understandably, the media have jumped on this surprising musical act, but we’ve investigated further. 
 
 
 
 Let’s start with the time signature. A brisk 3/4, with a crotchet roughly equalling 108 a minute, suggests activity. Positivity, even. But 3/4 is not the most immediately stable of signatures. It’s easy to feel secure in 3/4, but for just a couple of bars it’s disconcerting - especially when starting with an anacrusis. 
 
 What does Theresa May's taste in music say about her? > 
 
 Harmonically, too, it’s ambivalent, confusing. It’s almost fanfare-like in that confident leap of a fourth from G to C, but it quickly loses confidence when it mirrors the ascent later in the bar, plummeting down to D sharp, forming an awkward implied triad. 
 
 
 
 And then the percussive spoken ‘Right’, which lands almost perfectly on the first beat of the next bar, is a strange dip into acted-out recitative - demonstrative of a reasonable knowledge of contemporary composition techniques. 
 
 There is a theory that the soon-to-be-former PM is actually humming the opening of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony – of which more here. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 So, Wagnerian fanfare, Beethoven-esque harmonic doubt and then a strange contemporary flourish at the end. Does this composition demonstrate the unresolved nature of Cameron’s swift departure from office? Is it perhaps a comment on what might be next for 10 Downing Street? 
 
 
 
 Other interpretations on this new and invigorating work are welcome. We’re thinking a new fugue arrangement, a cappella choral version, maybe a theme and variations… ||||| Britain's Prime Ministe, David Cameron, makes an announcement Monday July 11, 2016, outside No.10 Downing Street, London, after Theresa May secured her place as the United Kingdom's second female prime... (Associated Press) 
 
 Britain's Prime Ministe, David Cameron, makes an announcement Monday July 11, 2016, outside No.10 Downing Street, London, after Theresa May secured her place as the United Kingdom's second female prime minister through the surprise withdrawal of her only rival in the battle to succeed him. Cameron says... (Associated Press) 
 
 LONDON (AP) — A political era ended Monday — unexpectedly and without an election — as Prime Minister David Cameron said he will step down in two days in favor of Theresa May, a senior member of his Cabinet who will become Britain's second female leader. 
 
 Cameron announced his resignation last month because he backed the losing side in a referendum for Britain to leave the European Union. So did May — but infighting, bad timing and cold feet among leaders of the victorious "leave" campaign means that she will have the task of leading a divided country out of the EU. 
 
 The latest chapter in the political turmoil spawned by the EU vote moved with breathtaking speed. 
 
 On Monday morning, there were two candidates to lead the governing Conservative Party. At noon, Andrea Leadsom stepped down, making May leader-in-waiting. By late afternoon, Cameron had announced that May would be moving into 10 Downing Street within 48 hours. 
 
 "We will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening," Cameron said in a brief statement outside the leader's official London residence. 
 
 Cameron, who has governed since May 2010, said he would offer his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday after attending a final session of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. The monarch will then invite May — as leader of a party with a majority in Parliament — to lead a new government. 
 
 Speaking outside Parliament surrounded by Conservative colleagues, May said she was "honored and humbled" to have been chosen the party's new leader. 
 
 May campaigned tepidly to remain in the EU, but sought to reassure those who voted "leave" that she would respect their decision. She said there would be no attempt to avoid a British exit from the bloc. 
 
 "Brexit means Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it," she said, promising to deliver "a strong, new positive vision for the future of our country." 
 
 May's sudden victory came when Leadsom, the energy minister, stepped down from the Conservative leadership race after a weekend furor over comments in which she appeared to say being a mother gave her an advantage over May, who has no children. 
 
 Only a week after she announced she was running, Leadsom said she had concluded she lacked "sufficient support" among legislators to be leader. She said "the interests of our country are best served by the immediate appointment of a strong and well-supported prime minister." 
 
 Cameron's resignation announcement the day after the June 23 referendum triggered the Tory leadership race. The most prominent contenders to replace him — including "leave" campaign leaders Boris Johnson and Michael Gove — withdrew or were eliminated from contention one by one amid allegations of treachery and scheming. 
 
 Conservative lawmakers narrowed the field from five contenders to just Leadsom and May. Some 150,000 party members were due to choose between them in the coming weeks, with the result to be announced in September. 
 
 But with Leadsom's withdrawal, the party announced that May would be the new leader "with immediate effect." 
 
 May, 59, is one of the most experienced ministers in Cameron's Cabinet, serving for six years in the notoriously difficult job of home secretary, akin to the interior minister's post in other countries. She has a reputation for solid, unflashy competence and for prevailing over her rivals. Former Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke was caught on microphone last week telling a colleague, "Theresa's a bloody difficult woman — but you and I worked for Margaret Thatcher." 
 
 The comparison with Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" who governed from 1979 to 1990 and refashioned Britain in line with her free-market ideology, appeals to many Tories. 
 
 Leadsom's decision to quit came after the weekend uproar over her comments about the role of motherhood in politics. She at first defended, then apologized for, an interview in which she said that being a mother "means you have a very real stake in the future of our country." 
 
 Before her announcement, Leadsom apologized to May, telling the Daily Telegraph newspaper that she believed having children has "no bearing on the ability to be PM." 
 
 Leadsom's rivals said both her comments on motherhood and her subsequent flip-flopping showed she lacked the experience under pressure required to be prime minister. Her allies accused May supporters of trying to undermine Leadsom. 
 
 The Conservatives aren't the only ones thrown into turmoil by the referendum, which has also sparked a leadership struggle in the main opposition Labour party. 
 
 Labour lawmaker Angela Eagle launched an attempt to unseat party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a staunchly uncharismatic socialist who has a strong base of support among Labour members but little backing from the party's 229 lawmakers. 
 
 Labour legislators have passed a no-confidence motion in Corbyn, and many of his top team in Parliament resigned from their jobs to protest his leadership. He is refusing to resign and says he can win a leadership battle, which would be decided by a vote of party members. 
 
 May's accession is unlikely to end the political turbulence. She will be under immediate pressure to launch two years of formal exit talks with the EU by triggering Article 50 of the bloc's constitution. 
 
 She also faces calls to seek a mandate from voters well before the next scheduled national election in 2020, although there is no legal requirement for her to do so. 
 
 Oliver Daddow, senior lecturer in politics at Nottingham Trent University, said May would be well advised to call a snap election while Labour is in disarray. 
 
 "She'd have to really mess it up not to win," he said. 
 
 Senior Conservatives quickly rallied around the new leader after the referendum campaign, which widened the party's longstanding split over Europe. Gove, the justice secretary, said May "has my full support as our next prime minister," while Johnson, the former London mayor, said she would "provide the authority and the leadership necessary to unite the Conservative Party and take the country forward." 
 
 May's honeymoon may be short-lived. She faces the possibly insurmountable challenge of negotiating a new relationship with the EU that can satisfy Brexit-supporting Britons, disappointed "remain" voters and the 27 remaining members of the bloc. She will have to balance access to the EU's single market, which the economy has come to rely on, with immigration controls that the "leave" campaign promised. 
 
 "She is in a position of leading a country which wants to have its cake and eat it — which wants to leave the EU but yet have access to the single market without free movement of people," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. "The idea that she is going to be able to satisfy everybody I think is far-fetched. That reckoning is two years or so down the line, but it is a reckoning that will eventually come." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this story. 
 
 Follow Jill Lawless on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
– They're calling it "Cameron's Lament"—though some say it was actually a happy tune from a relieved man. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Monday that he will resign on Wednesday afternoon, and a hot mic caught him singing a few notes to himself as he walked the few steps back to his No. 10 Downing Street residence after speaking to the press, CNN reports. He can be heard saying "Right" as he steps inside and removes the microphone. Some have said the tune sounded like the start of the West Wing theme, while others believe it sounded more like a Winnie the Pooh-style song, the Guardian reports. After a detailed musical analysis, Classic FM concluded that Cameron's musical notes suggested "Wagnerian fanfare, Beethoven-esque harmonic doubt, and then a strange contemporary flourish at the end," a composition that might demonstrate the "unresolved nature of Cameron's swift departure from office." The prime minister is expected to offer his resignation to the queen on Wednesday. He will be replaced by Theresa May, who prevailed in the Conservative Party's post-Brexit leadership race after all of her opponents dropped out. (Some ill-judged comments about motherhood may have hastened the departure of May's last remaining rival.)