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Another female Tory Prime Minister

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Looks like it’s a toss-up between Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom to become leader of the Conservative Party and, by default, PM. It’ll be the second female Tory leader versus zero from Labour.

I just saw Ms May interviewed on TV and have to say, even for a Tory, she seems insufferably, painfully posh, with very little of the common touch. That premature dowager’s hump doesn’t help much, either. By comparison Leadsom appears to be a little more in touch with reality, but with May she doesn’t have much to beat.

And yet Theresa appears to be a shoo-in.

Inevitably both are being compared to the sainted Maggie, a compliment to some, the kiss of death to others.

Thoughts?

http://i.imgur.com/s4BYaLG.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36737426

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Comments

  4. I didn’t see any mention of gender in the process until it became absolutely clear that the next PM will be a woman. I’m not a Conservative but surely they would be nuts to choose anyone other than May, the closest thing they have a safe pair of hands? Leadsom has strong grass-roots support due to her campaigning for Brexit but too little experience. I disregard comments on her supposedly exaggerated CV and so on as run-of-the-mill negative campaigning, but it’s the lack of track record which would worry me if I was voting for not only a party leader but a prime minister.

  6. I find it amazing that of all the candidates the Tories could throw up (back to the eating sick comment there), all of the exit ones were unelectable with the exception of Leadsom. Who should be.

    So we’re likely to end up with a PM who voted to remain negotiating for the exit. With a house full of MPs with 80% of them being keen on remaining. That’s going to be interesting.

  8. Neither of them’s a particularly attractive prospect, are they? It’s by no means certain May will get the nod, as the decision is made by Conservative Party members, a bunch of angry and confused Brexiters who were born in the 1930s and would like to go back there.

    It’s encouraging though that at this very moment there is a huge upswell in grass roots activism among the newly-politicised young on the left, and they will be gaining momentum day and night over the coming weeks to bring together a strong national consensus on the key issue of this crisis – what new derogatory nickname should they put on their protest banners?

    ‘Andrea Loathsome’ is the obvious candidate. With May it’s a bit more difficult. At my local CLP meeting tonight we’re debating a motion on whether to bring back Hey Hey / Theresa May / How many kids did you eat today?. It’s got a kind of folksy ’70s aggressive vibe, while failing to engage in any substantive way on the issues, which we feel reflects the values that this new Labour party stands for.

  11. Leadsome is clearly bonkers. Only 6 years as an MP. Committed Christian and hunt supporter. Far too little experience to represent this once great nation on the world stage.

    Doubtless she will be voted in by the grass roots Tories, who see her as one of their own, by a landslide.

    FML

  12. I am so pissed off with the way this is going. I’m not anti-female PM, and May is the least-worst option, but FFS, why the hell didn’t Boris, Gove and all the other Leavers have a FUCKING plan? It wouldn’t have been beyond them to at least have something written on the back of an envelope, and it’s absolutely terrifying that they led us here on an airy-fairy waft of it’ll-be-all-right-on-the-night. No, It won’t. It’s a total and utter cock-up. And Nigel Farage can fuck off as well.

  13. Where do you get one of those crystal balls everyone seems to posses these days, I must have missed that memo. This knee jerk reactivism deciding the outcome and the repercussions before anything has happens leads to unimaginable pressure crazy expectations and a never ending stream of dead men and women walking. From Prime Minister to England football manager we all seem to know the outcome before they’ve got their bums warm in the seat they are occupying. As a country we need to breathe and listen to some whale noise or something. All I am saying is give them a chance……… And I hope May wins and is given some time

    • Well, they say the past is the most reliable predictor of future performance. One of May’s first acts as Home Secretary was to address the Home Office’s Senior Civil Servants. She told them she expected half of them to be gone within two years. As you can imagine, they weren’t entirely motivated thereafter. The continued underperformance of the Borders Agency and her own failure to control the increase in illegal immigrants may not be unconnected.

    • May has a track record and surely that is valid to judge her potential as a PM on. Let’s face it – if she becomes PM she will be dealing with the EU exit as her main priority. An exit driven largely by views that immigration is out of control. And her responsible for the department that manages it. It’s a car crash waiting to happen and worthy of comment before it happens.

  15. The current climate of political correctness excludes ‘ordinary’ English people from high office. What are the chances of getting into a position of influence if are privately educated, went to Oxford or have experience in investment banking?

  17. May is the devil you know. She wants all your internet browsings are belong to us, the fucking nerve of the woman. Libertarian she is not; she’s Big Sister. Leadsom is a loathsome Home counties curtain twitching grammar school gal from Margotland who likes nothing better than a Party-line script from which to work. At least May has the balls to speak her mind and stick to her guns, even if you don’t agree with her. It’s Hobson’s from Hell.

  20. As said by many above, Theresa May is the least worst option. She is that rarest of things, a Tory MP who went to a state school. A safe-ish pair of hands. Has the support of a clear majority of Tory MPs. The sensible option.

    I therefore deduce that I should bet the house on Leadsom winning.

  21. I watched May talking live as a guest on the EU referendum broadcast and, trust me, as results came in pointing in one direction she seemed delighted that Leave were winning. Either she’s a very good actress or she knows a good thing when she sees it.

    She’ll be a safe pair of hands.

  22. Torys choose May.

    Intense period of cabinet navel-gazing and frantic committee meetings.

    Six months pass.

    Announcement that we are NOT about to invoke Article 50 as we simply cannot afford to do so.

    Three month long media-whipped shit-storm, while Downing Street battens down the hatches.

    Period of calm.

    General Election.

    Cobbled together coalition government.

    As you were.

      • As a bonus you can throw in the end of the top flight careers of Cameron, Johnson and, possibly, Gove. I might have taken that package if it was offered pre Referendum. Since the vote I have predicted a very British fudge ‘people have spoken and we have listed’, ‘lessons have been learned’, ‘draw a line under it’ and so on, costing a lotion money but not really achieving any change.

  24. Oh I dunno. They’re both hell-beasts but I’m glad May won as she seems dull and steady enough. I suspect she’s for steadying the plane, not for trying to perform acrobatics. Her Brexit will be the nearest thing to not-Brexit, which is fine with me.

    Not that Leadsom was a genuine Brexiter either, but there’s just something of the Jim Henson Workshop about her.

    • Leadsom has proved over the last couple of days that she is far too thin-skinned for high office. If she gets so upset and panicky about a standard news story, thank goodness she’ll never have to deal with a real crisis.

      She can now go and look after her offshore financial affairs – as described in copious recent Private Eye articles.

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