Theresa May

This article is about the politician Theresa May. For the model, see Teresa May .

Theresa May (2017)

Theresa Mary May ( British English [ təriːzə meəri meɪ ] * 1. October 1956 as Theresa Mary Brasier in Eastbourne , East Sussex , England ) is a British politician and was on 13 July 2016 to the July 24, 2019 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . In this function, she formed Cabinets May I (2016 to 2017) and May II (2017 to 2019). Previously, she had as of May 2010, the Office of the Minister of the Interior ( Home Secretary , Cabinet Cameron I , II ) clothed. In the British House of Commons she represents the Maidenhead constituency . From July 11, 2016 to June 7, 2019, she was party leader of the Conservative Party .

Life

Theresa May is the only child of Hubert Brasier, pastor of the Church of England at Wheatley near Oxford , and Zaidee Mary (née Barnes). Her father died of complications in a car accident in 1981 and her mother died of multiple sclerosis in 1982 . After finishing school May studied at St Hugh's College , Oxford . In 1977 she obtained a bachelor's degree in geography . After graduating, she worked for the Bank of England until 1983 . She then worked as a financial advisor for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (UKPA).

politics

MPs

In the British general election in 1992 she was defeated in the constituency of North West Durham . In the 1997 general election , however, she won the Maidenhead constituency and became a member of the British House of Commons . She has since been re-elected in 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

In the conservative shadow cabinets during the time of the Labor governments 1997–2010, she was shadow minister in various departments: from 1999 to 2001, education and employment; from 2001 to 2002 transport, local self-government and the regions; 2004–2005 family affairs, 2005 culture, media and sport and 2005–2009 Leader of the House of Commons (in the shadow cabinet).

Party General Secretary

From 2002 to 2003 she was "Chairman" of the Conservative Party , which in the German party system roughly corresponds to the post of General Secretary. At the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth on October 7, 2002, she gave a highly acclaimed speech in which she also critically examined the state of her own party against the background of the heavy defeats in the 1997 and 2001 general election . In that speech she criticized British politicians in general, who had “promised too much and kept too little” in the past. The social base of the conservatives is too narrow. In some sections of the population, the Conservative Party is known as “ the nasty party ” (roughly: the “mean” or “ugly” party). This judgment is of course unjust, but the party must change and give up certain behavior patterns. There should be no more “smooth moralizing with a hypocritically raised index finger” (“ No more glib moralizing, no more hypocritical finger-wagging. ”) The party must again represent all of Britain and not just a “mythical place called Central England”.

The speech earned her a lot of respect on the one hand, and a lot of displeasure on the other due to the unadorned self-criticism. Many delegates responded with icy silence. Critics said that May had thus adapted too much to a misunderstood political correctness . The term nasty party then entered political parlance as a winged word and was quoted repeatedly in different contexts in the following years.

Interior Minister

Theresa May as the new Home Secretary with Prime Minister Cameron shortly after the new Conservative-Liberal Democratic government took office in 2010

After the Conservatives won the general election in 2010 and again in 2015 , she was Home Secretary in the Cameron I and Cameron II cabinets . May became the fourth woman to hold one of the four so-called "Great Offices of State".

Her first official act as Home Secretary was the repeal of several measures taken by previous Labor governments; The Identity Documents Act 2010 resolved to abolish the identity cards introduced in 2006 and the associated data. In a statement made on May 24, 2012, she spoke out in favor of allowing same-sex marriage and was at the time the highest ranking politician in the UK to support this demand. In 2013 she rented mobile billboards in London and Glasgow , on which illegal immigrants were threatened to leave the country under threat of arrest. May also supported the Prevent program to combat terrorism as Minister of the Interior . The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act , which she submitted to parliament at the end of 2014, significantly expanded the government's powers to seize passports and deport suspects of terrorism. May expanded the police's powers to deal with violent masked demonstrators. On the other hand, in a speech to police officials on May 21, 2014, she clearly criticized omissions on the part of the police, citing a number of shocking mistakes made by the police in the past (including the Hillsborough disaster ) and calling on the police to act Rethink and change some of their behaviors. Parts of the population have lost confidence in the police. The speech culminated in the pronounced request: “Change yourselves or we will change you!” ( “Change yourself or we will change you !”).

In an interview with the BBC on March 24, 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron named her as a possible candidate for successor to the Prime Minister's office (alongside George Osborne and Boris Johnson ).

On the question of the UK's exit from the EU, Theresa May was reluctant to take a position and was not very involved in the voting campaign before the EU exit referendum. Ultimately, in the vote on June 23, 2016, she voted for the United Kingdom to remain in the EU. When she was asked in a public interview, more than a year after the referendum - meanwhile as prime minister mainly responsible for the EU exit negotiations - whether she would vote like this again in another “Brexit” referendum, she avoided a clear answer.

Party leader and Prime Minister

After David Cameron announced his resignation in September 2016 following the UK voters' decision to leave the European Union, she announced her candidacy for his successor as Conservative Party leader on June 30, 2016. Her competitors were Secretary of Labor and Pensions Stephen Crabb , Secretary of Justice Michael Gove , Secretary of State for Energy Andrea Leadsom and former Secretary of Defense Liam Fox .

In the first round of elections on July 5, 2016, in which 329 of 330 (all except David Cameron) Conservative MPs voted, Theresa May received 165 votes (50%). Andrea Leadsom followed in second place with 66 votes, followed by Michael Gove (48), Stephen Crabb (34) and Liam Fox (16). The last-placed Liam Fox was then removed from the list of candidates, and Crabb then withdrew his application. In a second round of voting on July 7th, Gove was eliminated. A primary election of the party members was planned for the beginning of September 2016 to decide between the remaining candidates May and Leadsom. Leadsom already gave up on Monday, July 11th, after being criticized for a statement about May that was assessed as unfair. That made May the only remaining candidate. On Wednesday July 13, 2016, she succeeded Cameron as Prime Minister. She became the second Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Margaret Thatcher .

Theresa May meets the then American Secretary of State John Kerry in London in July 2016

In October 2016, May announced at a conference of her party in Birmingham that she would apply for Brexit under Article 50 of the EU Treaty at the end of March 2017. In the following months, critics accused May of allowing her ideas of a “Brexit” to apply. Other views on this were not taken into account.

On January 17, 2017, she announced in a speech to ambassadors in London that Great Britain would leave the common market and the customs union. If there is no agreement in the negotiations, this will happen without a contract with the EU. She warned the EU against a “punishment” of Great Britain and announced that the result of the negotiations would be submitted to parliament for a vote. In a speech to Republican congressmen  in  Philadelphia  (USA) on January 26, 2017  , she declared the British policy of meddling ( interventionism ) in sovereign states (including  Iraq ,  Libya ,  Egypt ,  Yemen ,  Ukraine ) in order to shape them according to their ideals as over . She joined the change of course in US foreign policy after  Donald Trump was  elected US President in November 2016. Tony Blair had started the stepped up British intervention policy after the Cold War in 1999 .

In April 2017, May surprisingly announced an early election to the British House of Commons. In this election , the Tories lost an absolute majority of the lower house seats, despite a nationwide gain of around 5.5%. But they remained the strongest party. May was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II the day after the election to form a government. Her government then relied on parliamentary support from the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The most serious crisis of her tenure as Prime Minister loomed when May announced in December 2018 that the House of Commons would vote on the draft treaty negotiated by her government for the UK to leave the EU . Practically all parties represented in the lower house except the Conservatives announced the rejection of the draft treaty, and many critics also spoke up within the Conservative Party. The Prime Minister then postponed the vote at the last minute. Shortly thereafter, on December 12, 2018, she survived an internal parliamentary vote (vote of no confidence), in which she was voted out of office as party leader and prime minister, with 200 (63%) to 117 (37%) of the MPs. In the lower house vote on January 15, 2019, 202 MPs voted for and 432 against the exit agreement negotiated by their government. More than a third of MPs from their own party voted against. Jeremy Corbyn then requested a vote of no confidence, which was voted on on January 16, 2019. Theresa May survived this vote of no confidence with 325 to 306 votes.

In May 2019, the 1922 committee forced May's early withdrawal, which had to agree to work with Sir Graham Brady , chairman of the 1922 committee, and chairman Brandon Lewis, to work out a specific schedule for their orderly withdrawal by the end of June / beginning of July 2019. In May 2019, according to observers, May sealed her political fate when, in contrast, she planned a renewed vote on the EU Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons and, in contrast to previous votes, added a detail that would make a future vote on an EU Withdrawal Agreement mandatory should be linked to a so-called "Final Say" vote - which in fact would have been a vote on a new referendum. Numerous MPs from her party protested. Andrea Leadsom , Leader of the House of Commons , resigned, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt refused May on May 23 and asked her to cancel the vote. The 1922 committee demanded May's early withdrawal the next day or threatened her with a motion of no confidence if she refused.

Theresa May announced her resignation in May 2019.

On May 24, 2019 May announced her resignation as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7, 2019. She resigned as Prime Minister on July 24th after Boris Johnson had been elected party leader the day before and she was thus able to hand over official business in a regulated manner.

Assessment of May's tenure as Prime Minister

May's time as prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party was considered unfortunate even before her resignation. Alistair Lexden, official party historian of the Conservative Party, described her as disastrous in an article in February 2019 and called May the “worst leader of the Tories”. She was also accused of her inflexibility and the unnecessary early general election in 2017, which cost the Tories their majority and led to a hung parliament . Historian Andrew Roberts ruled that Theresa May would occupy a place as one of the least successful Prime Ministers in British history.

In view of an internally divided Conservative Party with regard to the “Brexit” issue, a lack of a majority in the lower house and a deeply polarized British society, Theresa May was faced with almost insoluble tasks - so the tenor of many political comments. A comment in the Spectator said May was only the last in a line of conservative party leaders to overthrow internal party differences on the European issue. Her failure in trying to bring about Brexit would ultimately shape the memory of her tenure as Prime Minister. A similar comment was made in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : At the beginning of her term in office, compared to Margaret Thatcher , May will ultimately go down in history as a respected but unsuccessful Prime Minister.

Private life

Theresa May married the bank manager Philip John May (* 1957) in 1980, whom she met while studying at Oxford. The marriage is childless. Andrea Leadsom , May's rival candidate for the party chairmanship, alluded to when, as a mother, she tried to present herself as the more suitable candidate - for which she later apologized.

May is a member of the Church of England and a regular attendee of church services . She identified her Christian faith as an integral part of her core beliefs.

In November 2012, May was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus .

During her tenure as Tory party leader and prime minister, she repeatedly had problems with her voice . May has a voice that always sounds scratchy and hoarse ( dysphonia ).

literature

• Theresa May , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 49/2013 from December 3, 2013, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible).
• Anthony Seldon & Raymond Newell: May at 10th Biteback Publishing, London 2019. ISBN 978-1-78-590517-9 .

Web links

Commons : Theresa May  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

 Wikinews: Theresa Mary May  - on the news

• Official website of Theresa May (English)
• Profile of Theresa May on the website of the British government (English)
• Profile of Theresa May on the website of the British Parliament (English)
• FAZ.net June 8, 2017: Woman without qualities (portrait)
• BBC.com May 24, 2019: The Theresa May story: The Tory leader brought down by Brexit (portrait)
• Daily Telegraph.co.uk May 24, 2019: To understand Theresa May, you need to know where she came from (portrait)

Individual evidence

1. ^ John C. Wells : Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Ltd., 2000.
2. ↑ http://www.munzinger.de/search/go/document.jsp?id=00000029744
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Oxford romance that has guided Theresa May from tragedy to triumph. The Daily telegraph, July 9, 2016, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
4. ↑ The Rt Hon Theresa May MP. www.gov.uk, accessed on July 13, 2016 (English). 
5. ↑ 'Nasty' Tories told to change. BBC News, October 7, 2002, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Full text: Theresa May's conference speech. October 7, 2002, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
7. ^ Labor is turning into the nasty party. The Statesman, March 15, 2016, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
8. ↑ John Crace: The perfect champion for the new Nasty party? Andrea Leadsom. The Guardian, July 7, 2016, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
9. ^ The Conservatives - We are the Nasty Party. Huffington Post, April 10, 2016, accessed July 13, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Hélène Mulholland: Theresa May records video in support of gay marriage. The Guardian, May 24, 2012, accessed July 17, 2016 . 
11. ↑ 'Go home' vans resulted in 11 people leaving Britain, says report , The Guardian, October 31, 2013
12. ↑ www.legislation.gov.uk (full text)
13. ↑ Police may be given new powers after cuts protest, says home secretary. The Guardian, March 28, 2015, accessed July 17, 2016 . 
14. ↑ Nick Robinson: May tells police - change or be changed. The Guardian, May 21, 2014, accessed July 17, 2016 . 
15. ^ David Cameron 'won't serve third term' if re-elected. BBC News, March 24, 2015, accessed March 24, 2015 . 
16. ↑ Theresa May won't say if she'd vote for Brexit now. BBC News, October 10, 2017, accessed October 10, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Great Britain: Theresa May wants to become the new Prime Minister. In: Spiegel Online . June 30, 2016, accessed June 30, 2016.
18. ↑ Guide to the Conservative leadership race: May v Leadsom. In: BBC News . July 8, 2016 (English).
19. ^ Tory leadership: Theresa May tops first vote but Liam Fox out. In: BBC News. July 5, 2016, accessed July 5, 2016 . 
20. ↑ Great Britain: Leadsom and May make Cameron successor among themselves. In: Spiegel Online . July 7, 2016, accessed on the same day.
21. ↑ Great Britain: Leadsom gives up - May only candidate for Cameron successor. In: Spiegel Online . July 11, 2016.
22. ↑ Anne Demmer: Failed Brexit vote: Everything is open again. In: tagesschau.de . 16th January 2019.
23. ↑ Brexit: Theresa May to trigger Article 50 by end of March , BBC, October 2, 2016
24. ↑ Rheinische Post January 6, 2017 (p. A5): The high priestess of Brexit ( online )
25. ↑ May Sets Out Brexit Vision With Vow to Quit EU Single Market , Robert Hutton, Thomas Penny, Bloomberg Politics, January 17, 2017
26. ↑ The government's negotiating objectives for exiting the EU: PM speech , text of the speech on the UK government website.
27. ↑ FULL TEXT: Theresa May's speech to the Republican 'Congress of Tomorrow' conference . In: Business Insider Germany . ( businessinsider.de [accessed on February 5, 2017]).
28. ↑ Heather Stewart Political editor: Theresa May opens Trump visit by attacking past foreign policy failures . In: The Guardian . January 26, 2017, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed February 5, 2017]).
29. ↑ Prime Minister May announces new elections for June. In: Spiegel Online . April 18, 2017, accessed January 16, 2019.
30. ^ Theresa May survives confidence vote. BBC News, December 12, 2018, accessed December 12, 2018 . 
31. ↑ Anne Demmer: Everything is open again. In: tagesschau.de . 16th January 2019.
32. ^ How the 'men in gray suits' called time on Theresa May's premiership. Daily Telegraph, May 17, 2019, accessed May 17, 2019 . 
33. ↑ "Theresa May announces she will resign on 7 June" The Guardian of May 24, 2019
34. ^ Andrew Woodcock: "Theresa May resigns: PM breaks down as she announces departure amid Brexit gridlock and expected European election wipeout" The Independent of May 24, 2019
35. ^ Alistair Lexden: The Carlton Club meeting and the fall of the Lloyd George Coalition. Conservative Home, February 15, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 . 
36. ^ Andrew Roberts: Theresa May will rightly take her place as one of the least successful prime ministers in British history. The Telegraph online, March 29, 2019, accessed November 3, 2019 . 
37. ↑ Theresa May resignation: Prime minister had 'almost impossible job'. BBC, May 24, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
38. ↑ Bettina Schulz: Resignation of Theresa May: overwhelmed by Brexit. Time online, May 24, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
39. ↑ Katy Balls: May becomes the latest Conservative prime minister to be brought down by Europe. The Spectator, May 24, 2019, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
40. ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: A bitter farewell. FAZ online, May 24, 2019, accessed on May 25, 2019 . 
41. ↑ Theresa May set to be UK PM after Andrea Leadsom quits , BBC News, July 11, 2016
42. ^ Antony Bushfield: Theresa May: Christianity is 'part of me'. www.premier.org.uk/, November 24, 2014, accessed on July 13, 2016 (English). 
43. ^ Theresa May: "Type 1 doesn't change what you can do" . Diabetes.org.uk. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
44. ↑ Kate Palmer: Could May have fixed her croaky voice? October 4, 2017 ( bbc.com [accessed May 26, 2019]).
45. ↑ Hoarse Theresa May: "You should hear Jean-Claude Juncker". Retrieved May 26, 2019 .