NEXT BRITISH PM A WOMAN
THERESA MAY THE CLEAR FAVOURITE
LONDON: Britain is set to have its first woman prime minister since Margaret Thatcher after the second round of election among Conservative party MPs on Thursday ended in a shortlist of Home secretary Theresa May and energy minister Andrea Leadsom.
This also opens up the possibility, should Hillary Clinton win the US presidential election, that along with Germany’s Angela Merkel, three leading western powers will all be led by women -- a historic first.
May increased her lead from 165 in the first round on Tuesday to 199 in the 330-member strong Tory parliamentary party. Leadsom polled 88 and Michael Gove 46. After finishing third, Gove was eliminated from the contest.
Over 150,000 members of the party will now vote to choose the winner between May and Leadsom by postal ballot. The winner, to be announced on September 9, will take over as the party leader and prime minister to replace David Cameron.
There is also the possibility that Leadsom may withdraw from the contest, which will result in May being declared the winner earlier than September 9.
The vacancy was caused by Cameron resigning on June 24 after a referendum resulted in a vote to leave the 28-bloc European Union. The government led by the next prime minister will initiate the two-year process of exiting from the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Delighted at the result, May said she had received support from ‘Remainers’ as well as ‘Brexiteers’ and promised to reunite the party riven by the bruising referendum campaign. She has promised to set up a separate department to deal with Brexit negotiations.
Margaret Thatcher was the Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. Credited with much experience in government and international relations, May has been the longest serving Home secretary of Britain.
May’s supporters in the parliamentary party includes MPs of Indian origin, such as Alok Sharma, who campaigned to remain in the EU and minister of state Priti Patel, who was one of the leading lights of the Brexit campaign.
Sharma told HT earlier on Thursday: “Theresa has very real experience from the private sector and fantastic experience at the very top of government. She will command respect from Delhi to Dublin, from Brussels to Beijing.”
“I believe serious times call for a serious candidate. Someone who is very experienced at the highest levels. Someone who is highly competent. Someone who will command respect on the international stage,” he added.
Patel said in a statement: “Theresa May is the only candidate best placed to deliver and there no other candidate who comes anywhere close to her experience, or record of strong leadership. She shares the steely determination I always admired in Margaret Thatcher”.
“Equally important will be the need to unite our party and our country. We must end the tribalism and divisions seen in the Referendum between leave and remain and focus on defining our place in the world and putting core Conservative principles and values into action”, she added.