Theresa May is a British politician that for three years was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She recently resigned!
So it’s the perfect time to find out some trivia and facts about her career!
- Her full name is Theresa Mary May
- She was born on 1 October 1956
- She is a British politician
- Serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- And Leader of the Conservative Party since 2016
- May was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead in 1997
- And served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016
- Ideologically, she identifies herself as a one-nation conservative
- May grew up in Oxfordshire and attended St Hugh’s College, Oxford
- After graduating in 1977, she worked for the Bank of England
- She also served as a councillor for Durnsford in Merton
- After unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons she was elected as the MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election
- From 1999 to 2010, May held a number of roles in Shadow Cabinets
- She was also Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003
- When the coalition government was formed after the 2010 general election
- May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities
- But gave up the latter role in 2012
- She continued to serve as home secretary after the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election
- And became the longest-serving home secretary in over 60 years
- During her tenure she pursued reform of the Police Federation
- Implemented a harder line on drugs policy
- Including the banning of khat
- Oversaw the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners
- The deportation of Abu Qatada
- And the creation of the National Crime Agency
- And brought in additional restrictions on immigration
- She is to date, the only woman to hold two of the great offices of state
- In July 2016, after David Cameron resigned, May was elected as Conservative Party Leader
- Becoming Britain’s second female Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher
- As Prime Minister, May began the process of withdrawing the UK from the European Union
- Triggering Article 50 in March 2017
- The following month, she announced a snap general election
- With the aim of strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations and highlighting her “strong and stable” leadership
- This resulted in a hung parliament
- In which the number of Conservative seats fell from 330 to 317
- Despite the party winning its highest vote share since 1983
- The loss of an overall majority prompted her to enter a confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
- To support a minority government
- Since forming a second ministry on 11 June 2017, May has faced a significant number of ministerial resignations
- May survived a vote of no confidence from her own MPs in December 2018
- And a Parliamentary vote of no confidence in January 2019
- May said that she would not lead her party in the next general election scheduled for 2022
- Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act
- But did not rule out leading it into a snap election
- May carried out the Brexit negotiations with the European Union
- Adhering to the Chequers Agreement
- Which resulted in the draft Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU
- This agreement was defeated by Parliament in January 2019
- In the largest majority against a British government in history
- May announced a revised deal
- But this was defeated in Parliament by 391 votes to 242
- In March 2019, May committed to stepping down as Prime Minister if Parliament passed her Brexit deal
- To make way for a new leader in the second phase of Brexit
- However, the Withdrawal Agreement was rejected for a third time
- On 24 May 2019, she announced that her resignation as party leader would take effect on 7 June
- She stated that she would remain in office as prime minister until a successor is chosen in a Conservative Party leadership election
- Born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex
- May is the only child of Zaidee Mary and Hubert Brasier
- Her father was a Church of England clergyman
- Who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital
- He later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop
- And finally of St Mary’s at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford
- May’s mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party
- Her father died from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1981
- And her mother of multiple sclerosis the following year
- May later stated she was “sorry they [her parents] never saw me elected as a Member of Parliament”
- May initially attended Heythrop Primary School
- A state school in Heythrop
- Followed by St. Juliana’s Convent School for Girls
- A Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke
- Which closed in 1984
- When she was 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls’ Grammar School
- A state school in Wheatley
- During her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised
- And the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School
- May attended the University of Oxford
- Read geography at St Hugh’s College
- And graduated with a second class BA degree in 1977
- She worked in a bakery on Saturdays to earn pocket money
- And was a “tall, fashion-conscious young woman who from an early age spoke of her ambition to be the first woman prime minister,” according those who knew her
- A university friend, Pat Frankland, said: “I cannot remember a time when she did not have political ambitions. I well remember, at the time, she was quite irritated when Margaret Thatcher got there first”
- May has been married to Philip May
- An investment relationship manager currently employed by Capital International
- They are married since 6 September 1980
- It is widely believed that former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto introduced the two during their time at Oxford
- May has expressed regret that she and her husband have not been able to have children
- The Mays are passionate walkers
- And they regularly spend their holidays hiking in the Swiss Alps
- May is also a cricket fan
- Stating that Geoffrey Boycott was one of her sporting heroes
- She also likes cooking
- And has said that she owns 100 cookery books
- May is a member of the Church of England
- And regularly worships at church on Sunday
- The daughter of an Anglican priest, the Reverend Hubert Brasier, May has said that her Christian faith “is part of me. It is part of who I am and therefore how I approach things”
- May is known for a love of fashion
- And in particular of distinctive shoes
- She wore leopard-print shoes at her ‘Nasty Party’ speech in 2002
- As well as her final Cabinet meeting as Home Secretary in 2016
- On Desert Island Discs in 2014, she chose a subscription to Vogue as her luxury item
- However, she has been critical of the media focusing on her fashion instead of her achievements as a politician
- May was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus of type 1 in November 2012
- She is treated with daily insulin injections
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