With Andrea Leadsom dropping out of the Conservative leadership race, Theresa May takes the top spot at the head of the party, which also means she’ll take over from David Cameron as Prime Minister on Wednesday 13th July. Unfortunately we were left with no choice, but we hope May can start to sort out the current mess our country has been left in after Brexit.
May will likely be elected unopposed into the leadership role, depending on her formal confirmation by the Conservative party board and chairman of the 1922 committee. After the meeting she will almost definitely be established as Prime Minister by the Tory MPs.
She had been the favourite in the leadership race anyway, which was supposed to conclude in early September. Other runners Michael Gove and Liam Fox were eliminated and Stephen Crabb and Andrea Leadsom dropped out, leaving May as the victor.
Tory MP Graham Brady who chairs the party’s influential 1922 committee said he was “already in discussions” about May’s confirmation. The details of how long the process will take are still vague, but Brady suggests it will be sped up.
He said, “It won’t be nine weeks, let’s be very clear about that. But I think we need to get the clear views of the Conservative party board they quite properly need to be consulted, but I will make a statement as soon as I am in a position to confirm formally the new leader of the party.”
Let’s see how this one pans out…
So what are our new PM’s policies?
May voted in favour of same-sex marriage but unlike Leadsom, voted to stay in the EU. She supports the UK taking military action overseas, and plans to bring net immigration down. She consistently voted for reductions in welfare spending, and is regarded as one of the party’s more liberal senior members. She was the home secretary and former minister for women and equality.