Andrea Leadsom

Andrea Leadsom (2017)

Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom [ lɛdsəm ] (born on 13. May 1963 as Andrea Jacqueline Salmon in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire ) is a British politician of the Conservative Party . She has represented the constituency of South Northamptonshire in the British House of Commons since May 2010, and between April 2014 and May 2019 Leadsom was a member of the British government under Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May , most recently as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons . In the summer of 2016 and in the spring of 2019, she unsuccessfully applied for the chairmanship of her party. On July 24, 2019, Boris Johnson appointed her to his cabinet as Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy and Industrial Strategy . She was released on February 13, 2020 as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

Life

Leadsom grew up in Tonbridge in Kent on. She graduated from the University of Warwick , where she earned a degree in political science . She then worked in the banking sector and in the financial industry . She married Ben Leadsom in 1993 and the couple have two sons and a daughter.

Career in politics

In the 2005 general election , Leadsom ran for a seat in the House of Commons in the Knowsley South constituency in Merseyside . Her candidacy was successful in 2010 in the constituency of South Northamptonshire, which she was able to defend in the 2015 and 2017 elections. Prime Minister Cameron appointed Leadsom as State Secretary in his government in April 2014 : initially as Economic Secretary , she was responsible for the area of economics in the Ministry of Finance and Economics , and from May 2015 she was Minister of State in the Ministry of Energy and Climate Change, responsible for the energy sector. As of July 2016, Leadsom was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the first May cabinet . After a government reshuffle, Leadsom assumed the interrelated positions of Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons in June 2017 . On May 22, 2019, she resigned from these offices because of her dissatisfaction with May's Brexit course. Already in the election campaign leading up to the EU membership referendum in the UK in 2016 , Leadsom was a staunch supporter of the UK leaving the EU.

Applications for party chairmanship

After Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation in September 2016 following the decision of British voters to leave the EU, Leadsom announced her candidacy for the Presidency of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister in late June 2016. It was publicly supported by some prominent party figures such as Iain Duncan Smith , Michael Howard and Boris Johnson . Her competitors in the bid to succeed Cameron were Home Secretary Theresa May , Justice Secretary Michael Gove , Secretary of Labor and Pensions Stephen Crabb and former Secretary of Defense Liam Fox .

In the primaries within the House of Commons, Fox, Crabb and Gove were eliminated until July 7th. By the beginning of September, the party members should now decide in a primary election between the two remaining candidates May and Leadsom. Then Leadsom came under pressure for an interview with The Times . In the interview, she addressed Theresa May's childlessness and suggested that she herself would be the more suitable candidate because, as a multiple mother, she had an immediate interest in the country's future as good as possible. Because of these statements, she was massively criticized. She defended herself by claiming that her statements were misrepresented, but the Times was able to refute this with an audio recording. Leadsom then announced its withdrawal on July 11, 2016. They do not feel that they have sufficient support for the formation of a "strong and stable government". She wishes the future Prime Minister Theresa May "the greatest success" in implementing the EU exit.

In the new election that became necessary due to May's resignation as party chairman in spring 2019, Leadsom reapplied for the post, but was eliminated in the first round of the preliminary round of the House of Commons on June 13th .

Web links

Commons : Andrea Leadsom  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Personal website of Andrea Leadsom (English)
• Andrea Leadsom on the website of the British government (English)
• Andrea Leadsom on the website of the British Parliament (English)
• Andrea Leadsom on the website of the Conservative Party in Northamptonshire (English)
• Andrea Leadsom on the website of BBC (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The pronunciation can be heard in this interview on YouTube after 2 seconds.
2. ↑ Hasan Gökkaya, dpa, Reuters: Great Britain: Boris Johnson dismisses several ministers from his cabinet . In: The time . February 13, 2020, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed February 13, 2020]).
3. ↑ Leadsom vs May: Tory candidates go head to head on key issues The Times , July 8, 2016, accessed June 23, 2019. (English)
4. ↑ Conservative leader resigns. Der Standard , May 22, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019.
5. ↑ Conservative leader: Who might succeed David Cameron? BBC News, June 30, 2016
6. ↑ Great Britain: Leadsom and May make Cameron successor among themselves. Spiegel Online, July 7, 2016
7. ↑ Andrea Leadsom quits Conservative leadership race BBC News, July 11, 2016
8. ↑ Great Britain: Leadsom gives up - May only candidate for Cameron successor spiegel.de, July 11, 2016
9. ↑ Johnson wins first round of Tory presidency voting. Der Standard, June 13, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019.