On July 7th, the Conservative Members of Parliament chose Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom as the two candidates that would face a ballot of party members, and it became clear that Britain was going to appoint its second female Prime Minister. Yet at noon just four days later, Andrea Leadsom bowed out of the race, leaving one woman standing. Long-serving Home Secretary Theresa May outclassed, outlasted, and outmanoeuvred one of the strongest fields of Conservative candidates in history. May stood stoically on the side-lines while first George Osborne, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and then Andrea Leadsom imploded—most of their own volition. On the morning of July 11th, May officially launched her national campaign against Leadsom, and within the hour she was unopposed and on her way back to London as the prospective Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In a party often characterized by aggressive, impatient men tussling for leadership, Theresa May bided her time and seized the moment.
Britain’s referendum on its European Union membership was characterized by some as a proxy-war for the leadership of the Conservative Party between Boris Johnson and George Osborne, a “Tory psychodrama” where private schoolboys relived childhood feuds for control of the nation. However, the unexpected result reframed this narrative. Theresa May, a Remain supporter, had refrained from campaigning during the referendum—some speculating this was a purposeful ploy to avoid alienating the parliamentary or party electorate who would choose the next Prime Minister. Following David Cameron’s announcement of his resignation, and the bruising defeat inflicted upon George Osborne, May’s main rival for the leadership was leading Leave campaigner Boris Johnson. His spectacular implosion came following a newspaper column that confounded fears he had only sided with the Leave campaign during the referendum for career purposes. Boris’ friend and colleague Michael Gove then suddenly and dramatically denounced him, forcing the premature end of his campaign.
The Conservative Party’s election process involved a vote amongst MPs, with the least-supported candidate in each round being eliminated until two candidates were left to be voted on by party members in the country. May won a majority of MPs in the first round, which forced out Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb. Gove, too damaged by his perceived betrayal of Boris Johnson, lost out on a place in the run-off to junior Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom. There were several factors which motivated Andrea Leadsom’s quick withdrawal. With 60 percent of MPs supporting May, Leadsom pointed in her withdrawal speech to her inability to command a large amount of support within the Parliamentary Conservative Party. Perhaps more pressing on her mind was her inexperience in the limelight. Leadsom had fallen victim to the British press, with the Times publishing a story in which she seemed to suggest that she was more capable to be Prime Minister because she was a mother. This was seen as particularly galling given that Theresa May had spoken of her disappointment at being unable to have children. Leadsom then leapt to accuse the paper of fabricating the story, but was proven wrong when the Times produced the audio recording of the interview. Attacked on all sides for running a nasty campaign and being deeply naïve about the press, foreign policy, and the negotiations for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, Mrs Leadsom endorsed Theresa May as the next Prime Minister.
The daughter of a Church of England vicar’s, May operates outside of the ‘boy’s club’ which has been perceived as dominating British politics for the past six years. Unlike her predecessor David Cameron, she was not privately educated, but attended a state-funded school before studying Geography at Oxford. Again unlike Cameron who began work for the Conservative Party, her first job after university was in finance, working with the Bank of England and then as a financial advisor. She was elected to Parliament during the Conservative rout in 1997, entering the parliamentary party at a historic low-point.
Labour’s 13 years in power were a turbulent period for the Conservative Party, which went through four leaders, and May was thrust and thrown between different departments as the leadership ebbed and flowed. Throughout this time, she held several positions: Education, Transport, Chairman of the Conservative Party, Culture Media and Sport, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, and Work and Pensions. With the Conservative’s victory in 2010, she became Home Secretary, a post that destroyed the careers of several prominent parliamentarians before her. Yet May survived six years in the department, with key successes on national security, policing, and crime.
Known as a hard-working politician with little time for spin and show, she has won applause from colleagues for a relentlessly efficient, determined approach to management. While some on the right of the party have criticized her for missing self-imposed immigration targets, she has also fought tough battles on the deportation of terrorists, negotiating a settlement with the Jordanians to remove radical cleric Abu Qatada from the UK. This was done in-lieu of European opposition, and awarded her substantial respect from eurosceptics and those who supported remaining in the EU alike.
While appearing hard-line on law and order issues, May has managed in recent years to pivot towards the center on most social issues. Though she voted against lowering the equal age of consent for gay people, she was one of the first high-profile Conservatives to endorse the government’s attempt to legalize same-sex marriage and clarified her support for same-sex couples adopting children.
Though it may be appealing to draw parallels to Britain’s Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher, ideologically, this approach does not make sense. Thatcher was a strict ideologue, a monetarist, and always on the right of the party. Those who know and work with May have described her as pragmatic and non-ideological, with a streak of ruthlessness to get the job done. Perhaps more accurately, the Financial Times called her “Britain’s Angela Merkel.” May herself has dismissed any and all parallels, saying she is “not someone who naturally looks to role models,” preferring to just “do the best job [she] can.” May has also taken on a more feminist approach to leadership, which Thatcher famously dismissed. When Liam Fox and Lord Saatchi replaced her as Co-Chairmen of the Party, she famously quipped, “yes, it takes two men to step into the shoes of one woman.”
The woman whose political career began in the post-Thatcher turmoil, in a party imbued in divisions over Europe, who watched consecutive leaders quickly rise and fall in their clamour for power, now presides over a party that she has managed to unite against the odds. Were a general election to be called, most indications show she would win a large mandate. While this may be true, she faces the substantial task of negotiating Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. Former leadership contender Ken Clarke, in an off-the-cuff remark, described May as “a bloody difficult woman.” In these negotiations and in post-referendum politics generally, Theresa May, now the 54th Prime Minister, replied that Britain “could do with some bloody difficult women, actually.” She may prove difficult for EU President Jean Claude Juncker, but her rise to the top job has displayed one of the most unusual traits in modern politics: patience.
Image Source: Wikimedia/ukhomeoffice