Theresa May is the incumbent British Prime Minister who took the office after former Prime Minister, David Cameron, resigned following a narrow loss in Brexit referendum. May assumed the office on 13 July 2016. Now, she is also the leader of the ruling Conservative Party.
Early Life and Education
Theresa May was born on 1 October 1956 on the southeast coast of England. Her clergyman father and Conservative party supporter mother died when she was 25. Losing both parents in the same year indeed was a tragic moment for May.
May primarily went to Holton Park Girls’ Grammar School which was renamed Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. Later, she entered the prestigious University of Oxford to major in geography.
Personal Life
It’s almost been more than three and a half decades since May married Philip May. The couple supposedly met while at Oxford. Philip, now, is a banker at Capital International. The two passionate hikers do not have any children.
To be more personal, May acquires an immense love for fashion. Raised in Eastbourne under a Christian family, May is deeply faithful to religion and is also a member of the Church of England.
Career
May started off her professionalism by entering Bank of England in 1977. After gathering five years of experience at the prestigious central bank, she moved to Association for Payment Clearing Services as a senior advisor. She worked there for 12 years and also ventured into British politics by holding various leadership positions. By 1997, May was already elected to the legislature from Maidenhead.
In addition to holding a seat in parliament, Theresa May was included in the Shadow cabinet as an Education and Employment Secretary. Subsequently, she held the Chairmanship of the Conservative Party starting in 2002. Following 2005 general elections, May held the offices of Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. May’s continued appearance in the shadow cabinet led her to win 60% of the Maidenhead in 2010 general election.
As the Conservative Party came to power in 2010, David Cameron was appointed as the Prime Minister. Alongside many other leaders, Cameron included Theresa May in his cabinet as the Home Secretary. Under the capacity of such a significant post, Home Secretary May put an end to Gordon Brown’s National Identity Card scheme. More importantly, she was crucial in sorting out the Cumbria shootings – it was her first such encounter as a Home Secretary. Likewise, May was also successful in banning the then incumbent PM of India from the UK.
Under May’s leadership, the UK territory became safer with reduced number of crimes – in fact, the crime rate fell by more than 10%. Another tough regulation brought about by Theresa May is her new non-European Economic Area family migrants. As per the rule, only the British citizens earning more than £18600 were allowed to bring in their families. Although she was able to deliver a few things she proposed, many of those promises still remain nowhere near fulfillment. For instance, May said that she would bring down the net migration to 100,000. However, as of 2015, the net migration was over 298,000. Parallel to being the Home Secretary, Theresa May was also the Minister for Women and Equalities. Holding Ministry of Women and Equalities, May advocated for LGBT rights and gay adoption.
On 23rd June 2016, the much-anticipated EU referendum was held. To everyone’s surprise, Britain voted to leave which put pressure on incumbent PM David Cameron to resign from the post. As one of the most eligible candidates, May submitted her candidacy on 30 June. She won the elections with an overwhelming majority and subsequently got appointed to the post by Queen Elizabeth II.
Dissolving Cameron’s cabinet, Theresa May established her won group of ministers and secretaries to lead the nation. She handed her previous post to Amber Rudd and the other significant post of Chancellor of the Exchequer to Philip Hammond. Shortly after finishing up with establishing a competent cabinet, May visited German Chancellor to talk about Brexit. Since that moment, May stays firm that she will not trigger Article 50 before 2017. Although May was a losing remain side campaigner, she still wants the Brexit to be smooth and sustainably fruitful for the UK Economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpcVbRRHoDA
Trump and May
US President Donald Trump and British PM Theresa May recently met in the White House and held bilateral talks about trade, ISIS, bilateral investments, and support. As per the White House News Conference after the talks, both the world leaders seemed optimistic about working with each other. Unfortunately, May is being largely criticized after she failed to bring about several sensitive issues such as Muslim ban while on the table with Trump. The criticisms grew after she invited him to the UK to visit Queen Elizabeth II.
While May wants to get along with Trump, her political colleagues such as Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan are aggressively critical of him. The next four years of Trump administration will be interesting for both sides of the Atlantic.
