In less than 48 hours, Theresa May will become the UK’s second female Prime Minister – but who is she?
Outgoing PM David Cameron anointed May as his successor yesterday afternoon, just hours after Andrea Leadsom, May’s only rival for leadership of the Tory party, withdrew herself from contention.
By tomorrow evening, May, 59, will have moved into Downing Street and commenced her reign – so here are the top five things you need to know about the new British PM.
1.She’s an Oxford graduate
May studied geography at Oxford University before starting a financial career at the Bank of England, where she worked until the mid-1980s in various high-powered roles including Head of the European Affairs Unit and Senior Advisor on International Affairs. She left to become a financial consultant for the Association for Payment Clearing Services before becoming the MP for Maidenhead in 1997.
2.She’s the longest serving Home Secretary in 50 years
Famous for her steely determination to get the job done, May held the notoriously difficult job for six years, from 2010 until today, making her longest serving Home Secretary in 50 years.
3.She campaigned against Brexit
May was part of the Remain campaign, but kept a very low profile in the lead-up to the vote, perhaps hedging her bets to protect her leadership ambitions. She has since vowed to make the UK’s exit from the EU a success, saying: “Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it.”
4.She has Type 1 diabetes
May was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2013 but insists it doesn’t affect her work. “It’s a case of head down and getting on with it,” she famously said about her condition.
5.She is notoriously private
May lets very little slip about her private life, preferring to keep it, well, private. We do know that she met her husband, Philip John May, when they were both at university. They married in 1980 when she was 23 and he was 22 but they have been unable to have any children. May has not revealed why, simply saying: “It’s one of those things. You accept the hand that life deals you”.
Theresa with her husband.
6.She loves fashion
She once revealed the one thing she would take to a desert island would be a lifetime’s supply of fashion bible Vogue magazine and she is famously well-dressed, with a particular penchant for kitten heels and designer labels.
7.She supports gay marriage
May believes homosexual couples should be able to get married but voted against adoption rights for gay couples in 2002.
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