Home Secretary Theresa May, has become the only candidate left to become Britain’s Prime Minister (PM) since her contender announced the press she would be dropping out of the race on early Monday.
Minister of State for Energy, Andrea Leadsom was May’s Conservative contender to lead Britain after David Cameron announced his resignation. Nonetheless, the 53-year-old candidate has resigned her place in the race for PM.
On Monday morning, Leadsom offered statements to the press in which she wished May a great success on her run for PM. She assured Britain needed a “strong and stable government” to lead the UK’s exit from the European Union.
In the statement offered at Westminster, Leadsom assured that a leadership campaign at such “critical times” was undesirable for the U.K. The Minister of Energy also stated that the amount of support given to May would assure a great governor.
Theresa May already has 60% of the Conservative MPs support. Although Leadsom had also been supported, the numbers were higher in May’s case. Leadsom assured May would be a great candidate to guide Britain to the EU exit, despite not being a supporter of the case.
During the referendum campaign, Theresa May had skeptical thoughts about remaining in the EU, yet she supported it. After the “out” vote won, May assured she would respect the people’s decision and would work on a correct way to lead the exit.
“Brexit means Brexit, no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door, and no second referendum,” assured Theresa May in a press conference, when talking about leaving the EU.
May vs. Leadsom
Leadsom recently had a confrontation with the press and her contender Theresa May. During an interview with Times, Andrea Leadsom suggested she was a better candidate for PM for having children.
“She possibly has nieces, nephews, lots of people. But I have children who are going to have children who will directly be part of what happens next,” said Leadsom in the interview.
Conservative MPs didn’t take the statements in a good way and criticized the 53-year-old for her comments. Senior MP, Sir Alan Duncan, categorized Leadsom comments as “vile,” and business minister Anna Soubry assured she was “not PM material.”
BBC News reported Leadsom had personally apologized to Theresa May via text message, to which she responded by thanking her. May representatives stated that the home secretary never though Leadsom had meant any harm.
Minister of Energy Andrea Leadsom, faced harsh criticism after her declarations to which she responded several times. She assured the Times had changed the way she stated things and that she was feeling “under attack.”
Leadsom also apologized publicly to Theresa May in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. She assured motherhood had nothing to do with the Conservative-run for prime minister, and she lamented the comments she made.
Nonetheless, supporters of Leadsom, including the former Conservative leader Duncan Smith, defended the 53-year-old by claiming she was facing a shameful campaign against her to “denigrate her reputation” as BBC reports.
Andrea Leadsom wasn’t a big face on the Conservative party, yet she became the star when the Brexit referendum was taking place. She defended the UK’s abandonment of the European Union from beginning to end.
That came as a surprise as CNN reports that three years ago Leadsom made some statements in which she assured Britain would face a “disaster” if they left the European Union. Leadsom corrected her past speech by assuring she had been on a “journey” ever since and saw this as the best decision for the country.
Replacing David Cameron
After the Brexit referendum had shown the people’s desire to leave the European Union, David Cameron assured he wasn’t the leader prepared to lead the country in such a process. For which, he resigned to his role as Prime Minister.
Cameron assured he would do his best job until a new leader was found, which would take place on September 9, after a leadership campaign from the Conservative and ruling party. Yet, the process has been reduced.
To run for Prime Minister, members of the Conservative party first need the support of at least two MPs to join the race. When Cameron first resigned, there were five contenders with their respective supporters; Theresa May (165), Andrea Leadsom (66), Michael Gove (48), Stephen Crabb (34) and Liam Fox (16).
Little by little, contenders were dropping off the race and showing their support to different PM runners. For example, Stephen Crabb withdrew his name from the race on the first days of July and showed his support to Theresa May.
After the contenders are supported, MP’s will need to vote until only two names are left who in this case were Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom. A voting would have been made to choose between the two contenders and have a new PM.
Since Andrea Leadsom quit the race, Theresa May is the only contender left to lead the Conservative party and the UK on the EU exit. May was returning from a speech in Birmingham and would issue a speech when she arrives.
Chris Grayling, Theresa May’s campaign chief, assured the contender was “enormously honored” by Leadsom statements at which Grayling added the comments showed “what a principled and decent politician” Leadsom is.
May, has been compared to a modern-day Margaret Thatcher, and many have shown her support for the experienced politician.
Source: BBC