Who is Theresa May: A profile of UK's next prime minister

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From the BBC website for those of you who might be interested. A reasonably honest and unbiased account. The full profile can be found at the link.

Quote:

Theresa May is the new Conservative Party leader and will become the UK's second female prime minister on Wednesday, taking charge at one of the most turbulent times in recent political history.

The 59-year old home secretary's carefully cultivated image of political dependability and unflappability appears to have made her the right person at the right time as the fallout from the UK's vote to leave the EU smashed possible rivals out of contention.

Long known to have nurtured leadership ambitions of her own, Mrs May - whose university friends recall her ambition to be the UK's first female PM - could have reasonably expected to have had to wait until at least 2018 to have a shot at Downing Street.

But the EU referendum which David Cameron called and lost - the year after leading the party to its first election win in 23 years - turned political certainties on their head and, as other candidates fell by the wayside after the PM's own resignation, Mrs May emerged as the "unity" candidate to succeed him.

That her party should rally round her at such a time of national uncertainty is testament not only to the respect in which she is held across the party but to the fact that, in a world where political reputations can be shredded in an instant, Mrs May is the ultimate political survivor.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36660372<br />

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I really hope May will be able to succeed.
I wish the best for UK after the Brexit and hope Scotland will stay.
It will be a tough road into the future dealing with the rest of the 27 countries.
Almost 30% of the EU countries have been under a dictatorship until a few years ago and might have difficulties to grasp the old democratic ideas of UK.
The poorer countries might be afraid of getting less money now with minus
UK.
The ones who will be the easiest to deal with are probably Sweden, Denmark and Netherlands.
My guess is probably just as bad or good as all the other ones.

1 Reply

@saab,

In 2007, after Gordon Brown took over in Downing Street from Tony Blair, May was on the Conservative frontbench pushing for a general election. "The prime minister is running scared of a general election," she said.
But when May officially launched her Conservative leadership bid, she ruled out an early general election. "There should be no general election until 2020," she said.

Now, she'll become a prime minister, who has no popular acclamation neither through party members nor a general election.

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@izzythepush,

Thanks for starting this. I'm already semi-sick of her (as I am of Hillary Clinton who I voted for in the primary in a gradual turnaround in my view of Sanders), but in a way she reminds me of Clinton re the long time ambition and feistyness. Well, ambition and self confidence isn't always all bad. We'll see. I expect to not like some of her takes but I'm not well self-schooled on her views, which as a generality I'll say are quite to my right. I've read at least some of them, but I fail to retain them (remain them!) Same with the Labour people. (Which reminds me is this the year of bad hair? Angela and Boris and Donald must go to the same salon.) The one person I know I liked was Jo Cox.

I semi-followed what was going on in Scotland and think I saw their points, but again, I didn't want them to leave.

Tell us more, Izzy.

2 Replies

@ossobucotemp,

When I read about her I must agree with you that I cannot accept everything she says.
Hopefully she is strong enough to handle some politician who has caused a lot of trouble in EU.

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@ossobucotemp,

I think she's the least worse option. She's a Tory but she's not rabid and frothing at the mouth like her opponent who just stood down, Andrea Leadsom.

She'll be tied up with Brexit, we're going to have to employ a ton of diplomats, negotiators and bureaucrats just to carry out this entirely pointless exercise.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

Is this true? if so, does it matter?

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/07/11/tory-members-defect-ukip/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3683032/Businessman-threatens-hand-Ukip-10million-warchest-Theresa-wins-Conservative-leadership-election.html

neither of those seems like a really sound source, but every now and then the tabloids get it right

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

Yeah, Andrea Leadsom even scared me.

1 Reply

@ossobucotemp,

When the candidates were announced BBC South ran a piece on the region's MPs who were standing, May and Michael Gove. They interviewed their constituents, and to be fair, May's spoke highly of her. Not so Gove, they couldn't find anyone who had anything good to say about him.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

With my little but not completely empty knowledge, I agree with their takes..

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Dubious sources but maybe there is some kind of rush going on.

0 Replies

@ossobucotemp,

The BBC is fairly reliable, they're not allowed to knowingly broadcast lies.

Leadsom showed she was unfit for office within a few days of announcing her candidature. She had a newspaper interview in which she shot her mouth off about being a mother and then went mental when they printed what she'd said.

2 Replies

The view from Yerp.

Quote:

Several European media outlets say that with Theresa May's arrival in Downing Street, British politics may finally be about to enter a calmer period after the turmoil triggered by last month's Brexit referendum.

France's Le Figaro declares that "Theresa May will be the prime minister of Brexit. Deeply divided by the referendum on Europe, the Conservative Party reunites - at least it seems so - behind her and this objective, in a life-saving reflex."

A commentary in the left-wing French paper L'Humanite says Tory heads have been "spinning" ever since the victory of the Brexit camp, but the party can now pick itself up and carry on.

The Brussels correspondent of the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle believes that while Mrs May inherits an unenviable legacy from her predecessor, she is an experienced enough politician to be able to ride out the storm. Barbara Wesel says: "At least Britain and the rest of Europe now get a professional politician, not a fanatic. That is in itself good reason for being a little grateful."

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's politics editor, Peter Sturm, takes a similar line, saying the choice of Theresa May provides some clarity for Britain and the European Union. He also cautiously welcomes the fact that she has not so far adopted any "extreme positions".

However, Spiegel Online declares that Mrs May "is considered to be cool but also to thrive on conflict. She may need this, as Brussels will now lay on the pressure."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36775162

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

I don't read the Daily Mail end of. Actually for those of us living in the UK is does matter. The likes of Leadsom only care about rich city types. At least May is aware of the social problems caused by the Tories even if she might not care that much.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

I don't read the Daily Mail end of.

Additonally, Breitbart is one of biggest supporters of UKIP. Aaaron Banks (co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign, formerly one of the biggest Conservative Party donors, Breitbart UK Editor, columnist and writer ) has used several different twitter names to get his (this) opinion published as fact ...

0 Replies

@izzythepush,

I know the bbc is fairly reliable - was just agreeing with them as their takes fit what I've gathered.

An aside:
Have they stopped showing Recipes there? I know people were complaining about their stopping that (think I read that in The Guardian).

1 Reply

@ossobucotemp,

Not yet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

You might want to download some before it's too late.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

My question is about UKIP - do you think they'll go after Mrs. May? will they be successful?

2 Replies

@ehBeth,

They've got 1 (one) MP ... and he's even threatened to be thrown out of the party.

Who is Theresa May: A profile of UK's next prime minister

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