Theresa May is taking over as British prime minister when the country is going through one of its worst crises. And there are two ways how she will go down in history – as a prime minister who successfully steered her country through the disruptive Brexit process, by uniting the nation and regaining the glory it has lost, or as a prime minister who bungled at the most crucial time, a victim of the forces she had no control of.
May, 59, assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her new office of 10 Downing Street, vacated hours earlier by David Cameron. It was an unexpected and uncomplicated rise to the top for May, who was left as the only contender standing after withdrawal from the race by Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children.
Cameron chose to quit after Britons rejected his pleas and voted to leave the EU in the referendum last month. And he has an advice to his successor. “My advice to my successor, who is a brilliant negotiator, is that we should try to be as close to the European Union as we can be for the benefits of trade, cooperation and of security,”
he told parliament in his last appearance before resigning. May herself had wanted Britain to remain in the UK, but has promised to work vigorously for an exit and make Brexit a success. Brexit means Brexit, she said.
May now has the extremely onerous task of negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU, every step of which will be dissected and scrutinized by the media and the people. She will have to limit the damage to British trade and investments as she unties the relationship with the EU and renegotiates the relations with the bloc’s 27 partners. Secondly, she will have to unite a nation that remains deeply divided, the most important of which will be keeping Scotland in the union and reassure Europeans and others living in the UK that they are as welcome as before. It’s a tough road ahead filled with gaping holes, and she will require all the skills she has mastered and much more.
May is now being called the Angela Merkel of Britain. She also has the unique honour of being Britain’s second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher, and that too after a long gap of 27 years.
At the same time, expectations must be realistic about what the new prime minister can do.
Theresa May is taking over as British prime minister when the country is going through one of its worst crises. And there are two ways how she will go down in history – as a prime minister who successfully steered her country through the disruptive Brexit process, by uniting the nation and regaining the glory it has lost, or as a prime minister who bungled at the most crucial time, a victim of the forces she had no control of.
May, 59, assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her new office of 10 Downing Street, vacated hours earlier by David Cameron. It was an unexpected and uncomplicated rise to the top for May, who was left as the only contender standing after withdrawal from the race by Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children.
Cameron chose to quit after Britons rejected his pleas and voted to leave the EU in the referendum last month. And he has an advice to his successor. “My advice to my successor, who is a brilliant negotiator, is that we should try to be as close to the European Union as we can be for the benefits of trade, cooperation and of security,”
he told parliament in his last appearance before resigning. May herself had wanted Britain to remain in the UK, but has promised to work vigorously for an exit and make Brexit a success. Brexit means Brexit, she said.
May now has the extremely onerous task of negotiating Britain’s exit from the EU, every step of which will be dissected and scrutinized by the media and the people. She will have to limit the damage to British trade and investments as she unties the relationship with the EU and renegotiates the relations with the bloc’s 27 partners. Secondly, she will have to unite a nation that remains deeply divided, the most important of which will be keeping Scotland in the union and reassure Europeans and others living in the UK that they are as welcome as before. It’s a tough road ahead filled with gaping holes, and she will require all the skills she has mastered and much more.
May is now being called the Angela Merkel of Britain. She also has the unique honour of being Britain’s second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher, and that too after a long gap of 27 years.
At the same time, expectations must be realistic about what the new prime minister can do.
