Queen May of England. New British Prime Minister: who is Theresa May
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However, what happened over the next few days shocked the country no less than the outcome of the referendum.
After the failure of the “remainers” (from the English “remain” - to remain), to whose camp the then prime minister belonged David Cameron, he immediately announced his decision to resign. “I fought against leaving the EU with all my might, but the British chose a different path. This means they need a new prime minister,” Cameron explained his decision. And so it happened: in early July, Britain received a new prime minister. But it turned out to be not at all Boris Johnson, who has been tipped for this post for several years.
Unexpectedly for many, a 59-year-old woman became the head of the cabinet of ministers. Theresa May, who at that time had spent 6 years as Minister of the Interior - an unprecedented period for England. July 13, 2016 Queen of Great Britain Elizabeth II approved Teresa as prime minister and asked her to begin forming a new government. Theresa May became the second woman in British history (after Margaret Thatcher) to take the post of prime minister, and the first who will have to withdraw the country from the European Union (although some cherish the hope that the latter will not happen after all).
Teresa could not avoid comparisons with the first female prime minister. And is it worth avoiding such flattering parallels? May is called the second “iron lady”, the same “ with a steel hand in a velvet glove,” which was previously attributed to Thatcher. But who is she really? And how was the character of the new prime minister formed?
Biography of Theresa May
Teresa's childhood
Theresa Mary May, née Theresa Mary Brasier, was born on October 1, 1956 in the seaside town of Eastbourne on south coast Great Britain. Teresa's family later moved to Oxfordshire. Her parents belonged to the middle class: her father Rev Hubert Brasier was a vicar of the Church of England, and her mother Zaidee Mary Brasier was a housewife.
Young Teresa received a classical English upbringing: she studied at a Catholic girls' school at the monastery, and then at secondary school in the village of Whitley. The girl willingly participated in plays staged by her father, and on Saturdays she worked in a bakery to earn pocket money.
College studies
In 1974, after finishing school, Teresa, like Margaret Thatcher, went to Oxford, V St Hughes College(St Hugh's College), where she studied geography. In her third year of study, Teresa met her future husband Philip, who was president at that time Oxford Union– a platform for communication between like-minded people and an “incubator” for future political leaders.
Teresa's university friend Pat Frankland recalls that even then she was full of ambition: “I remember very well how Teresa dreamed of becoming the first woman prime minister and was extremely annoyed that this title went to Margaret Thatcher.” But still, May can hardly be called a complete bore and a hardened careerist: both Frankland and Teresa’s other classmates note that although student drinking sessions passed this young lady by, she nevertheless knew how to have fun and led a very active social life.
Carier start
After graduating from university, Teresa began her career in London City: First she got a job as a financial consultant at the Bank of England, and later headed the European affairs department at the Association of Interbank Settlement Systems.
In 1980, four years after they met, Teresa and Philip got married. After the wedding, a series of tragic events begins in the life of the future prime minister: in 1981, Teresa’s father dies in a car accident, and a few months later her mother dies of multiple sclerosis. The death of her parents becomes a difficult test for Teresa, but she finds the strength to cope with grief.
First steps in politics
Despite successful career in the City, all this time Teresa had the feeling that her true calling was politics. In 1986 she was elected to office local council member in the borough of Merton in south London, subsequently becoming deputy leader of the council. Having served a total of over six years in local government, Teresa prepared to move further along the political path.
In 1992, Mrs May first ran for Parliament from County Durham, but this first attempt, alas, was unsuccessful. Five years later she was elected member of the House of Commons for Maidenhead and joined William Hague's opposition team. This turning point marked the beginning of Theresa May's meteoric rise to become the head of the UK government.
In 1999 it became part of the so-called "shadow cabinet" ministers, appointed by opposition leaders, as shadow education minister. And three years later she becomes the first female chairman of the Conservative Party.
Further, Theresa May's career developed more than rapidly: in 2003, she was appointed to the post of shadow Minister of Transport and took the oath of office to the Privy Council, becoming a consultant to Her Majesty. A year later, in June 2004, Mrs May becomes shadow minister for culture, media and sport.
In December 2005, David Cameron, then leader of the Conservative Party, appoints Theresa as shadow leader of the House of Commons. And in January 2009, May received new position– Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions.
Theresa May is the new Prime Minister of Great Britain
In May 2010, Theresa May was re-elected to a second term as Member of Parliament for Maidenhead. Following his own re-election to parliament, David Cameron, who by that time had become Prime Minister of Great Britain, announced the appointment of Teresa to the post Minister of the Interior.
One may consider Teresa a boring politician, outwardly cold and constrained, but we must give her her due: before her appointment as Prime Minister, she managed to head the Ministry of Internal Affairs for entire years. six years old- a record period for Great Britain - and not once during this time was she caught in any scandal.
What they say about Theresa May
Colleagues and partners speak of May as an honest, insightful and sober politician, capable of making informed decisions. Teresa does not play to the public and always keeps a reasonable distance from everyone. As chairman of the Conservative Party, she refused her honorary membership in the Carlton Club, the oldest private Tory club in England. She is an unapologetic feminist and boldly poses in a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “This is what a real feminist looks like.”
In 2006, together with Baroness Anne Jenkin, Theresa May founded the Women2Win Association, which aims to increase the number of Conservative women in Parliament. And in 2010, at the same time as her appointment as Home Secretary, Teresa was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities.
Acquaintances and friends note the constant and boundless support that Teresa’s husband provides. Some draw a parallel with Margaret Thatcher's husband, Denis Thatcher. Like Denis, Philip always remains in the shadow of his wife while she runs the country. Unfortunately, the couple does not have children - and, perhaps because this topic is so painful for Teresa, she never comments on it in an interview.
1. Teresa was introduced to her future husband by her classmate at a meeting of the Student Conservative Association in 1976. A classmate's name was Benaziir Bhutto - and it was she who later became the first woman prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
2. Mrs May promises the people of Britain "a positive future in a country that works not for a few privileged people, but for everyone." She promised to fight social inequality and cut taxes.
3. In her free time from political activities, Teresa enjoys cooking: she has a collection of more than 100 cookbooks at home. In addition, the current Prime Minister enjoys long walks.
4. Teresa's true passion is bright and stylish shoes. Moreover, her choice of shoes is sometimes so extraordinary that some consider it inappropriate for a woman of such a high position.
5. In 2013, Teresa was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This means she requires life-saving insulin injections twice a day for the rest of her life. However, according to the assurances of the “Iron Lady” herself, this procedure has already become so much a habit that it will not affect her political activity in any way.
Name: Theresa Mary May Date of Birth: October 1, 1956. Place of birth: Eastbourne, UK.
Conservative from birth
Teresa Mary Brasier was the only child in the family. She was born in Sussex, but spent most of her childhood in Oxfordshire. Theresa's father, Hubert, was a country vicar whose last position was at St Mary's Church in Witley in the east of the county.
Teresa's mother, Zadie Mary, bore the surname Barnes as a girl. It is known about her that she was an ardent supporter of the Conservative Party. Her daughter’s life will also be connected with the Tories (as members of the party have been unofficially called for centuries).
As Teresa later recalled, thanks to the upbringing she received in her family, she learned to restrain her emotions. And the girl always knew that the interests and needs of the parishioners came first for her father.
She was raised to respect conservative values. To this day, Teresa Mary is an exemplary parishioner of the Anglican Church and attends all Sunday services. She once said that faith is part of herself, of who she is.
Specialty – geography
Teresa Brazier studied first in a public school and then in a private school. The education she received allowed her to enter Oxford. She received a BA in Geography from St Hugo's College in 1977.
Career
After graduating from university, Teresa Brazier got a job at the Bank of England. She stayed there until 1983. In the City, she made a fairly successful career, eventually heading the European department of the Association of Interbank Settlement Systems.
From 1985 to 1997, Teresa, now using her husband's surname, May, served as a financial advisor and senior advisor for international affairs at the Payment Clearing Association.
I wanted to be the first
Already as a student, Teresa thought about a political career. Ideally, she would have been Britain's first female prime minister. However, she failed to achieve her goal. While Theresa was building a career at the Bank of England, Margaret Thatcher was ahead of her. The girl was extremely upset.
Theresa May began her path in politics at the municipal level. In 1986 she was elected as a member of Merton Borough Council in south London. Teresa worked there for ten years, eventually taking the position of deputy chairman. But she wanted to prove herself at the national level.
The first elections were not successful. Theresa May lost the parliamentary elections in the constituency of North West Durham in 1992 and the long-term in the constituency of Barking in 1994. It was not about her herself - the Conservative Party at that time was extremely unpopular.
In 1997, Theresa May managed to become a member of the House of Commons from the newly created constituency of Maidenhead in Berkshire. Voters cast more than 25 thousand votes for her - that's 49.8 percent of those who voted.
In the shadow
Since 1997, Theresa May has received positions in the shadow Conservative government. It sounds like something out of a conspiracy theory, but this very official British institution has nothing to do with it. The Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet is formed from members of the main opposition party in parliament. Its members receive bonuses to their parliamentary salaries and must monitor the work of the ministers of the current cabinet.
At first, Theresa May held minor positions in the shadow government. However, her authority gradually grew. Even then, her toughness and inflexibility were noted. She did not try to please anyone - neither the public nor her party comrades.
“People call us the evil party,” Theresa May told party members in 2002. This did not stop her from becoming the first woman chairman of the party, but this post was purely technical; she was responsible for ensuring the functioning of the Tories.
May voted for the invasion of Iraq, did not support further integration into the European Union and the idea of banning smoking in public places and fox hunting, and also opposed same-sex couples being able to adopt children. At the same time, she was one of the first British politicians to support the introduction of same-sex marriage.
In 2003, she took a seat “behind the chairs” of the ministers of transport and food and environment. In 2005, she was shadow minister for culture, media and sport for six months, and on December 6 of the same year she became shadow leader of the House of Commons. In 2009 - a new appointment. Theresa May became shadow secretary for work and pensions.
Firing position
After the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties finally formed a coalition government in 2010, Theresa May expected to officially take the post of Minister of Work and Pensions. But instead, she was appointed to a department that was considered a kind of graveyard for the ambitions of many ministers. In Russia, such positions are called briefly and harshly - execution positions.
May firmly decided that this position would not be a hindrance to her, studied the most microscopic details and did not hesitate to enter into conflict with other ministers if the case required it.
In the end, it turned out that Theresa May, at the suggestion of her colleagues, found a great place to apply her strength and abilities. A tough and difficult character played a rather positive role here. She was supported by her deputies and voters, although sometimes her statements were very impartial.
Authorized water cannons and curfew
In 2011, Theresa May found herself in the spotlight of the general public. Protests broke out in London after police shot and killed 29-year-old Mark Duggan, who was not carrying a weapon at the time, during his arrest. As a result, riots broke out in the capital and other cities, killing several people. There were pogroms in London for three nights in a row.
Teresa reacted extremely harshly. At her suggestion, the British Parliament approved bills that allowed the use of the army and water cannons against demonstrators,, if necessary, closing access to social networks and introducing a curfew. And two bloggers who published calls for pogroms were jailed for four years, although the investigation was unable to establish whether they themselves participated in the riots.
Human rights activists predicted the end of Theresa May’s career, but this did not happen. It failed to reduce the number of migrants to 100,000 a year, as the government promised before the elections, but the radical preacher Abu Qatada, who successfully fended off attempts to deport him from Britain in court for almost a decade, was finally deported to Jordan. And most importantly, since 2010 there has not been a single major terrorist attack in the UK.
At May’s instigation, the UK adopted the Investigative Powers Act, which was nicknamed the “Bhound Law.” Intelligence services received the right to massively collect personal data, hack phones and computers if we're talking about on the fight against terrorism, and providers now collect lists of sites that users visit and store this data for a year. The police receive information when necessary.
Star Brexit
Theresa May's finest hour as a politician came in 2016. The referendum, in which a majority vote of citizens decided to withdraw Great Britain from the European Union, split both society and the Conservative Party.
By that time, the Tories were at the peak of their popularity, which allowed them to form a one-party government. And British Prime Minister David Cameron decided to put an end to the question of whether Great Britain should remain part of the European Union.
This burning topic has worried minds throughout the country's stay in the EU. The position of Great Britain could be called privileged - in particular, it retained National currency and Schengen does not apply. But the ever-present suspicious and slightly contemptuous attitude towards the “continent” and a sense of national pride kept making the British wonder whether they needed the European Union at all?
The referendum was scheduled for June 23, 2016. Cameron was so confident that there would be no global consequences that he ordered a halt to preliminary assessments of the outcome of Britain's possible exit from the EU. He was going to use the vote as a lever of pressure on the European Union.
Political scientists later called the referendum a mistake. The majority of participants voted to leave the EU. This marked the end of Cameron's political career and a new stage in the history of the country.
David Cameron has resigned. Theresa May has proposed her candidacy for the post of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. And she received the support of the party. On July 13, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain accepted Cameron's resignation and gave an audience to his successor, who became the second woman in the country's history to head the government.
On June 8, 2017, the Conservative Party won the parliamentary elections with a minimal margin. There are rumors that Theresa May will leave her post. However, this did not happen and the Tories formed a coalition government.
Introduced Bhutto to her husband
Teresa Brazier acquired the status married woman in 1980. She met her chosen one at a student disco of the Conservative Party, and they were introduced to Benazir Bhutto, who later became a world celebrity, served as President of Pakistan and died at the hands of a terrorist.
The lives of the people she introduced to each other, despite all the conflicts, are much less stormy. Philip John May ( PhilipJohnMay) born in 1957 and also studied at Oxford, receiving a degree in history. However, he made a career in management. Since 2016 he has been working for Capital International.
The couple have no children, which Teresa really regrets. My health condition prevented me from conceiving a child.
In 2012, the politician was diagnosed with diabetes. May needs daily diabetes injections, but says the disease does not interfere with her activities.
With Vogue to the ends of the earth
Theresa May stresses that she is not a show-off politician. “I don’t gossip at dinner or drink in bars. I’m just doing my job honestly,” she said.
She was compared to the headmistress private school, who is in the hall with overexcited students, staying away from them.
But all this does not stop Theresa May from loving extravagant clothes and shoes. She has been repeatedly criticized for not being conservative enough. appearance, to which the politician did not pay any attention. And when asked what she would take with her to a desert island, May replied that all she would have to do was take with her a selection of Vogue magazine.
Britain's answer to Angela Merkel
Theresa May is increasingly being compared to Margaret Thatcher. They are really similar, primarily in their toughness and ability to make decisions in times of crisis.
Diligent and careful, the tigress can get anyone and never worries about whether they love her or not, that’s what May’s colleagues say about her.
Journalists sometimes call May Britain's answer to Angela Merkel. These two childless women, ruling two influential states, can really compare their characters. And May, apparently, is not averse to exerting the same or even greater influence on the politics of the EU and the whole world as her German counterpart.
May has always had a negative attitude towards Russia. After the poisoning of former GRU colonel and British intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, May accused the Russian authorities of attempted murder. Moscow denies everything. But the British Prime Minister, who initiated the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United Kingdom, calls on EU countries to follow her example. Russia poses a long-term threat national security of all EU countries, the British Prime Minister is convinced.
Theresa May did not support the idea of leaving the European Union. And now he calls on his European colleagues for solidarity, as if Brexit had never happened. However, it is not for nothing that Britain is sometimes compared to a cat, for whom it is important that the door is opened for him, but he will still think about whether to get out of it or not.
Theresa May, despite the fact that even before her sensational appointment, her career was going uphill, started talking about her relatively recently. Not only the new prime minister’s career achievements, but also his personal ones came under the scrutiny of the world community. The press actively writes about the complex character and impeccable restraint of Lady May, for which one of her colleagues even called her a marble woman. And her extravagant style of clothing and love for original shoes immediately became the object of independent discussion. However, May herself rarely allows herself to be mocked - after all, it’s not for nothing that they call her the second Margaret Thatcher.
Job
Teresa was born into a religious family, raised in strict Puritan traditions and, it seems, from childhood she probably knew what she wanted. A specific upbringing and an excellent education at Oxford did their job - throughout her career in politics, May always made decisions based not on ideology, but on personal morality: this woman clearly understands what is good and what is bad. Iron integrity allowed Teresa to make a dizzying career in, I must say, quite short term. Theresa May began to be interested in politics back in the late 80s. Then she took her first post - she became the head of one of the London districts. But May always dreamed of more, namely, to be the first woman prime minister. Thatcher, of course, was ahead of her (simply because she was born much earlier), but May was still disappointed - she never liked being second. Then May suffered several more crushing defeats - she tried to run for high positions, but, alas, nothing good came of it. Another would have given up long ago, but not Teresa.
In 2002, Teresa managed to become the first female chairman of the Conservative Party. Actually, it was in this position that she showed her love for categorical and direct statements. It is easy to assume that she practiced this style of communication before, but from now on almost every statement Teresa made became public knowledge. For example, in 2002, speaking to delegates at the party congress, she said: “You know what people say about us - they call us an evil party.” The words of the future prime minister, oddly enough, did not cause condemnation, but, on the contrary, forced respect for the future Iron Lady No. 2 is even bigger. Because of her sharp tongue, her colleagues in the Conservative Party use the epithet “bloody difficult” in relation to her. Well, she can really speak out harshly, but Teresa has a principle that she never violates - not to use swear words in her speech.
Following the 2010 election, Theresa May was appointed Home Secretary (a post she held longer than any of her predecessors) and was given the portfolio of Women and Equalities Secretary at the same time. In the remaining 6 years before her triumph, May voted with one hand for the legalization of same-sex marriage, and with the other for a ban on gay couples adopting children; opposed leaving the European Union and at the same time opposed further integration of Great Britain into the EU. May's ambiguity as a politician was also expressed in the fact that, being a supporter of Cameron on Brexit, she immediately nominated herself for the post of head of the ruling Conservative Party as soon as it became clear that Cameron was resigning. “Brexit means Brexit,” Theresa May said then. Obviously, despite her personal beliefs, she could not miss her, perhaps, the first and last chance to realize her lifelong dream. Let it be as the second female prime minister in British history.
Personal life
The Prime Minister's colleagues say that it is absolutely impossible to make friends with Teresa. She is a typical introvert, has a hard time getting along with people and hates public speaking, preferring to do it only when absolutely necessary (perhaps the whole point is that she is simply bad at speaking, read: “How to fail a public speaking: a visual aid from Teresa May"). Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said May was “made of marble”. However, her relatives do not agree with this definition and note that if you manage to win her trust, you will get a truly loyal friend who will never weave intrigues behind your back. One of those who managed to win over the unapproachable Teresa was her husband, Philip May, whom the woman now calls her most faithful friend and stone wall.
Theresa May is a happy wife. They met their husband Philip back in 1976, at the Oxford Union discussion club, from which many political leaders countries. There is a legend that the couple was introduced at a Conservative Party dance party by the future Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. Three years later, in 1980, the lovers got married, and since then they have been living in perfect harmony for thirty-six years. True, Teresa and Philip have no children. To all questions, the new British Prime Minister evasively answers that every family has its own difficulties, but this does not mean that life cannot go on.
There is another problem in the May family - several years ago doctors gave Teresa an unpleasant diagnosis: diabetes. The disease forces her to constantly be under the supervision of doctors and also take insulin injections twice a day. However, according to Teresa, she has already gotten used to this annoying nuisance, and the disease has not affected her work for a long time.
For her beloved husband, Teresa is not at all a politician who has reached the peak of her career. At home, the inflexible May becomes an affectionate wife and, moreover, a real queen of the kitchen. Yes, yes, the newly-crowned Prime Minister loves to cook. As she admitted in one of the interviews that May now gives regularly, she has about a hundred cookbooks at home. And in her free time from politics and cooking, Teresa prefers to go to the mountains, throwing her backpack over her shoulders, preferably to the songs of ABBA and the music of Mozart.
Style
Theresa May's style is already legendary. Some call its taste impeccable, others close their eyes in horror. One way or another, the inimitable and highly original style of the new prime minister undoubtedly deserves attention. Especially her love for shoes. In the fall, the new British Prime Minister turned 61, but age did not at all affect the beauty of her slender legs, which Teresa emphasizes in every possible way with unusual shoes. There are no forbidden models for her: leopard-print pumps, snakeskin over-the-knee boots, shoes with large rhinestones and prints, even multi-colored rubber boots.
The reason for new conversations was the audience scheduled for Teresa with Elizabeth II, where May appeared in an elegant black and yellow suit and those same leopard-print pumps. However, the queen took this calmly, probably because Teresa had previously appeared in her apartment in patent leather boots.
What today
Mrs. May has held her enviable post for a year and a half, and during this time she has managed to become as frequent a guest on the pages of the world press as Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron or Angela Merkel. It’s not surprising: the new prime minister inherited not only the ambiguous legacy of Cameron’s rule, but also the new global political environment - first of all, the election of the freak Trump as US President, the overt ambition to gain leadership in the EU on the part of the French leader Macron, and, of course, the suddenly discovered “Russian trace” "in the Brexit referendum.
How does Teresa cope with these challenges? Well, the British themselves are not yet too impressed with the successes of their new leader. London has already cleared its main streets several times for May’s opponents, who continue to criticize the prime minister for tightening tax levies and for abolishing tax benefits for a third child (which looks a little strange, given that the national pride of the British, the Duchess of Cambridge, is currently expecting a third child), for job cuts and for other internal decisions of her cabinet. The dissatisfaction of the population logically resulted in the fact that Mrs. May was re-elected for her second term, to put it mildly, with difficulty - she had to make a deal with an outside party. Moreover, negotiations with the Democratic Unionist Party also did not go very smoothly: they say that Teresa even had to lie to Her Majesty that she had everything ready in order to receive her cherished mandate.
However, it seems that all these difficulties in her post are just a test of time. After all, even the legendary Thatcher at one time had to face powerful protests from both ordinary Britons and her fellow party members. Well, we can only hope that Teresa will not, following her example, regain her popularity through military actions in the distant British overseas territories.
On July 13, 2016, Queen Elizabeth II officially accepted David Cameron's resignation as Prime Minister and proposed the formation of a new government to Theresa May, who became the second woman after Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of Great Britain. NTV talks about how her career developed and why she was entrusted with leading the country out of the European Union.
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Who is Theresa May?
Theresa May was born in 1956 in Great Britain (East Sussex). She received a BA in Geography from Oxford University. In addition, she worked at the Bank of England and London self-government bodies.
In 1992, she participated in the parliamentary elections in the constituency of North West Durham and in the 1994 early elections in the constituency of Barking, but Theresa May was then unable to gain a sufficient number of votes.
However, a few years later she was elected from the new constituency of Maidenhead. Since the same year he has been constantly re-elected.
From 1997 to 2002, she held various minor positions in the shadow Conservative government.
In 2002, she became the first female chairman of the Conservative Party. She was engaged, unlike the party leader, technical issues ensuring the functioning of conservatives.
From 2003 to 2005 she was Shadow Minister for Transport and Shadow Minister for Food and Environment.
From May to December 2005 she was Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport.
From 2009 to 2010 she served as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
After the 2010 elections, she was appointed Home Secretary, while also receiving the portfolio of Minister for Women and Equalities. In this position, she advocated for the provision equal rights same-sex couples, becoming one of the first senior UK politicians to publicly express his support for legalizing same-sex marriage.
In the House of Commons, May voted for the invasion of Iraq, for the adoption of laws to combat climate change, against further integration of Great Britain into the European Union, against a ban on smoking in public places, and against allowing gay couples to adopt children.
Why did she become the new prime minister?
It should be noted that during the campaign before the referendum on Britain's exit from the European Union, Theresa May supported Prime Minister David Cameron, who was against Brexit. However, after summing up the results of the general vote, her opinion changed quite dramatically. Following the victory of Brexit supporters and Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement of his resignation, she unexpectedly announced her candidacy for the post of head of the Conservative Party. This automatically means nomination for the post of prime minister of the country.
In the first stage of the election by Conservative MPs, Theresa May became the leader of the Conservative Party. On July 7, 2016, two women became the final contenders for the post of Prime Minister of the country: Theresa May (she received 199 votes from parliamentarians) and Andrea Leads (received 84 votes). Thus, it was May who became the most likely contender for the post of head of the Conservative Party.
Photo: Reuters/Neil Hall
Already on July 11, 2016, Theresa May became the only candidate for this position. Andrea Leads ended her campaign early. After some time, May was declared leader of the party, and David Cameron resigned.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain took over as Prime Minister. Theresa May was officially appointed head of government.
David Cameron: “It was not an easy path, but we got through it, not all decisions were right, but our country has become much stronger than before.”
Let us recall that Theresa May became the second owner of the Downing Street residence in British history (the first woman to serve as prime minister was Margaret Thatcher).
New British Prime Minister: who is Theresa May
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On Wednesday, Britain's Home Secretary new leader Conservative Theresa May will officially become Prime Minister, leading the country through one of the most turbulent periods in its history.
May, 59, has long built the image of a reliable and cool-headed politician who right moment helped convince her party colleagues that she was suitable for the role of prime minister, while the political careers of her potential rivals fell victim to the fallout of the Brexit referendum.
And although her prime ministerial ambitions have been known for a long time - her university friends say that already as a student she dreamed of becoming the first female prime minister of Britain - until recently she could not even hope that she would be able to nominate her candidacy before 2018.
But the referendum on EU membership that David Cameron called and lost turned British politics on its head. While other Tory leadership candidates dropped out of the race one by one, Theresa May positioned herself as someone around whom all factions of the party could unite.
The fact that the party has rallied around her at such an uncertain time indicates not only that she is respected among her party members, but also that in a world where political reputations can be destroyed in a matter of seconds, Theresa May is better than others understands how to survive in the political jungle.
Image caption Theresa May has been part of the party leadership since the end of the last century (photo of the shadow cabinet in 1999)Early in her political career, May became famous for her extravagant shoes. She even once said that to a desert island she would only take with her a subscription to Vogue magazine.
But her main political trait was inflexibility. She has been one of the few women in the leadership of the Conservative Party for 17 years, and she has always been known for her direct and hard-hitting statements about her fellow party members. In 2002, speaking to delegates at the party congress, she told them: "You know what people say about us - they call us the 'evil party.'
Who is Theresa May?
Illustration copyright Fawcett Society Image caption Theresa May in 2006- Date of Birth: October 1, 1956
- Job: Member of Parliament for Maidenhead since 1997, Home Secretary since 2010
- Education: state high school then Oxford University
- Family: husband Philip May, no children
- Hobby: cooking - May says she has 100 cookbooks. From time to time she likes to go hiking in the mountains. When asked in a BBC interview to choose her favorite music, she named ABBA's Dancing Queen, as well as works by Mozart and the British composer Elgar
- What she thinks about the future of the party:"It is our party's patriotic duty to unite and lead the country in the interests of all its people. We need a bold, new, positive vision for the future of our country - a country that will benefit not only the privileged, but everyone without exception," she said. May also said that the people want more than just a “Brexiter prime minister” and promised to unite supporters and opponents of leaving the EU within the ranks of the party
Theresa May has already gone down in history as the person who has served as Home Secretary longer than any of her predecessors in the last 100 years.
Her father, a Church of England minister, died in a car accident when she was just 25 years old. Like Margaret Thatcher (and unlike David Cameron), she comes from a middle class background.
Image caption The wedding of Theresa and Philip May in 1980May was born in Sussex but grew up primarily in Oxfordshire. As far as we know, both of her grandmothers worked as servants.
Like Thatcher, Teresa Brazier (her maiden name) studied at Oxford, and, as was often the case with people of her generation, her personal and political life turned out to be closely related.
She met her future husband Philip in 1976 at the Oxford Union debating society, which produced many future political leaders. The couple are said to have been introduced at a Conservative Party dance party by future Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Teresa and Philip married in 1980.
Illustration copyright Theresa May Image caption Young Theresa May (left)Pat Frankland, a university friend of Theresa May, says she always had political ambitions. According to her, May wanted to become the first female prime minister, and was very upset when Margaret Thatcher beat her to it.
Image caption Theresa May with her parents Hubert and ZaidiBy this time, Theresa May, who studied geography at Oxford, had already begun a successful career in the City of London, where she first worked at the Bank of England and then headed the European department of the Interbank Settlement Systems Association.
Already at that time it was clear that she wanted to get involved in politics. May was elected as a local councilor for the borough of Merton in south London. Over 10 years of work, she rose to the position of deputy head of the council, but soon began to think about advancing her political career at the national level.
May, who has become a role model for all women dreaming of being elected to Parliament, told potential candidates in 2015 that “there will always be a seat with your name on it.”
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Unlike her predecessors as Home Secretary, Theresa May was not afraid to introduce police reformsHowever, as with Margaret Thatcher, May herself took some time before she found her place. She first tried her hand in 1992, standing as a candidate in the North West Durham constituency - and suffered a crushing defeat.
Two years later she became the Conservative Party candidate for the constituency of Barking, east London, during by-elections. At that time, the Conservative Party was extremely unpopular, and fewer than 2,000 people voted for May. But soon she got lucky.
The Conservatives' unpopularity peaked in 1997, when they suffered a crushing defeat. But it was in this election that Theresa May was elected in Maidenhead, in Barkshire. She still represents this district.
Illustration copyright Andrew Parsons/i-images Image caption Theresa May first ran for election in 1992 Illustration copyright PA Image caption Theresa May calls her husband Philip her main support Image caption Theresa May with rock star Alice Cooper outside the BBC studios in 2010Theresa May has been a champion of modernizing the Conservative Party from the very beginning. In 1999, she joined the shadow cabinet headed by William Hague, becoming shadow education secretary.
While Michael Howard was leader, she held a number of shadow cabinet posts but was not close to the so-called Notting Hill Group of David Cameron and George Osborne, which took control of the party after another Conservative defeat in the 2005 election.
This is probably why she was initially given a minor and rather formal administrative post in the shadow cabinet, but gradually she moved forward and by 2009 she was already the shadow secretary for work and pensions.
However, her appointment as home secretary after the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties formed a coalition government in 2010 came as a surprise to many.
For decades, the Home Office has been something of a political graveyard for many ministers. But Theresa May was determined that this would not happen to her. She studied the work of her ministry, as they say, down to microscopic detail, and in addition, if necessary, she did not hesitate to enter into conflict with other ministers.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Theresa May played a minor role in David Cameron's first shadow cabinetAlthough some in the government feared that the Home Office might become Theresa May's personal fiefdom, she had the full support of her deputies and it was believed that it would be impossible to remove her from her post, as her - often harsh - statements were popular with voters, despite her achievements ministries were not always impressive.
Image caption Theresa May at the party convention in 2010On the one hand, the crime rate in the country has fallen, since 2010 there has not been a single large-scale terrorist attack in the UK, and Theresa May managed to deport the radical preacher Abu Qatada from the country.
She was not afraid to fight powerful organizations and groups. In 2014, speaking to the Police Federation, she shocked those present by declaring that police corruption scandals were not just the work of individual “black sheep”. She also threatened to ban police officers from automatically joining the union.
On the other hand, during her leadership of the ministry, chaos reigned in the passport department. May has also come under constant criticism for her department's failure to reduce immigration to 100,000 people a year, as the government promised before the election.
There was also a public spat between her and minister Michael Gove over how best to combat Islamic extremism. The episode ended with Gove having to apologize to the prime minister and May having to sack one of her closest advisers. They say that after this incident she became cooler towards David Cameron.
The main points of her policy:
"Brexit": Theresa May insists that "Brexit" means "Brexit" and that there will not be a second referendum on the issue. According to her, negotiations on leaving the EU, which can begin only after London invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, will begin no earlier than the end of 2016. She says the status of EU citizens living in the UK will not change until a new deal is reached on the issue, but May refuses to guarantee that these people will be allowed to remain in the country. She also argues that an optimal treaty would leave free access to the European market for British goods and services, but would also allow Britain to exercise greater control over immigration.
Other offers: Theresa May promises to reform the principles of work and composition of boards of directors large companies and ensure that employees of the company itself are represented on such boards, and that decisions by shareholders on the level of salaries of top managers will be binding.
What the press says:"For political party Having struggled to shake off her elitist image, May represents a new type of politician. She is akin to the calm headmistress of a private school, sitting in a hall with overexcited schoolchildren. She stays away from them... her persistence sometimes draws harsh criticism. Some say that while she is careful to avoid personally stabbing opponents in the back, she sends members of her team to make harsh statements against them,” writes the Guardian.
Theresa May has never been an overly sociable politician and prefers not to appear in the tea room of the House of Commons, although it is there that parliamentarians spread both rumors and information.
She very rarely talks about her personal life, but in 2013 she revealed that she has diabetes and needs insulin injections twice a day. According to her, she is used to it, and it cannot in any way affect her work.
Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption Mae's extravagant shoes have been of interest to photographers for many years.May has traditional Conservative views on the economy or policing, but she is also willing to go against the grain. She criticized the police, which is unusual for Conservatives, and called for an investigation into whether some communities in Britain were under Sharia law.
She expressed a desire to remove Britain from the jurisdiction of the European Convention on Human Rights, but later said that she would not pursue this goal as the majority of MPs opposed it. Many believe that by doing so she demonstrated her pragmatism.
Her position on social issues is difficult to determine. She advocated for the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2012, she said it would be a good idea to reduce maximum term pregnancy with abortion from 24 to 20 weeks. Like most Conservatives in Parliament, she voted against the fox hunting ban.
Theresa May will be the oldest prime minister since James Callahan was elected in 1976 and the first childless prime minister since Ted Heath.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Theresa May was one of David Cameron's closest allies Illustration copyright PA Image caption Theresa May was elected to Parliament more than 20 years agoShe is one of the smartest and most experienced politicians in parliament. She advocated Britain's continued membership of the EU, but did so very quietly, talking only about the EU's security benefits. This position served her well after the referendum, when the Conservative Party, like the whole country, was split by the decision taken.
In announcing her candidacy for party leadership, May emphasized her experience, common sense and ability to make decisions in a crisis.
While the first few years of her premiership will be largely spent negotiating with the European Union and formulating a new deal with Europe, she insists she cannot be seen simply as a leader who will bring stability.
“Brexit” will not be the main or even the only theme of her premiership, she says. Theresa May promises to carry out a series of radical social reforms, ensure social mobility and help less affluent sections of the population.
But the Conservative Party has only a small majority in parliament - just 17 votes. The country remains divided over Brexit and faces fears about the future.
Theresa May has a hard time ahead hard work. More complex, many say, than most of her Downing Street predecessors.