Theresa .....who?

© Copyright Peter Crawford 2017

THERESA......WHO ?

This was the response of the author of this blog - when the party in question became the 'First Lord of the Treasury ' (the 'first what of the what' ? - you may also be asking yourself).
And many people, in the near future will undoubtedly also be asking, 'Theresa who ?).
Well, the repetitious use of the word 'may' - could answer your question - for we are talking about Theresa May.

EARLY LIFE & INFLUENCES

The daughter of Zaidee Brasier (née Barnes) and Hubert Brasier, a vicar, our Theresa grew up in Oxfordshire.

Hubert Brasier later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop, and finally of St Mary's at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford.

May's mother was a strong supporter of the Conservative Party

May was educated primarily in the state sector, but with a short spell at an independent Catholic school.

She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a state school in Heythrop, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke, which closed in 1984.

When she was 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School, a state school in Wheatley.

During her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School.[

May then attended the University of Oxford, where she read geography at St Hugh's College, graduating with a second class BA degree in 1977.

May has been married to Philip May, an investment banker, since 6 September 1980; the couple have no children.
The Mays are passionate hikers, and they regularly spend their holidays hiking in the Swiss Alps.
May is also a cricket fan (?) - probably trying to emulate John major, claiming Geoffrey Boycott was one of her sporting heroes
.She also likes cooking, and has said that she owns 100 cookery books.
May is a member of the Church of England and regularly worships at church on Sunday.The May has said that her Christian faith "is part of me. It is part of who I am and therefore how I approach things".
May is known for a love of fashion (?), and in particular distinctive shoes - however, and any review of her recent photos will indicate that she, in truth, has appalling taste and 'fashion sense'.

CAREER

From 1977 until 1983, she worked for the Bank of England, and from 1985 until 1997 at the Association for Payment Clearing Services, also serving as a councillor for Durnsford in Merton.

After unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and 1994, she was, (probably unfortunately), elected as the MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election.

From 1999 to 2010, May held a number of roles in the Shadow Cabinets of William Hague (who ?), Iain Duncan Smith (?), Michael Howard (?), and David Cameron, including Shadow Transport Secretary and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

She was also Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003.

After the formation of a coalition government following the 2010 general election, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012.

Reappointed after the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election, she went on to become the longest-serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously.

During her tenure she pursued reform of the Police Federation, implemented a harder line on drugs policy including the banning of 'khat' (no, not cats), oversaw the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners, the deportation of Abu Qatada, the creation of the National Crime Agency, and brought in additional restrictions on immigration.

Following Cameron's resignation on 24 June 2016, May won the ensuing leadership election on 11 July, and was appointed Prime Minister two days later.

As Prime Minister, May begun the process of withdrawing the UK from the European Union, triggering Article 50 on 29 March 2017.

BUNGLED ELECTION CAMPAIGN

On 18 April, May announced that she would call a parliamentary vote to hold an early general election on 8 June, saying that it was the "only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead".

May had previously ruled out an early election on five occasions over nine months.

The election was the first snap election held under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 after MPs gave May the two-thirds super-majority required.

Unveiling the Conservative manifesto in Halifax on 18 May, May promised a "mainstream government that would deliver for mainstream Britain" - where do they get these platitudinous little catc phrases from ?

It proposed to balanced the budget by 2025, raise spending on the NHS by £8bn per year, and on schools by £4bn per year by 2022, remove the ban on new grammar schools, means-test the winter fuel allowance, replace the state pension "triple lock" with a "double lock" and require executive pay to be approved by a vote of shareholders.

It dropped the 2015 pledge to not raise income tax or national insurance contributions, but maintained a commitment to freeze VAT.

New sovereign wealth funds for infrastructure, rules to prevent foreign takeovers of "critical national infrastructure" and institutes of technology were also proposed.

The manifesto was noted for its intervention in industry, lack of tax cuts, and increased spending commitments on public services.[

On 'Brexit' (that's a non-existent word meaning 'the leaving of the EU' [Common Market?]) it committed to leaving the single market and customs union while seeking a "deep and special partnership" (whatever that might mean), and promised a vote in parliament on the final agreement.

The manifesto also proposed reforms to social care in England that would raise the threshold for free care from £23,250 to £100,000 while include property in the means test and permitting deferred payment after death.

After attracting substantial media attention, four days after the manifesto launch May stated that the proposed social care reforms would now include an "absolute limit" on costs, in contrast to the rejection of a cap in the manifesto.

She criticised the "fake" portrayal of the policy in recent days by Labour, and other critics who had termed it a "dementia tax".

Evening Standard called the policy change a "U-turn".

The Financial Times contrasted her supposedly "Strong and Stable" leadership slogan with her own record of nine rapid U-turns, claiming she was "making a habit of retreating from policies."
Lulled into a false sense of security by her apparent but excessively brittle  popularity, her attempt to obtain a mandate form the people with a landslide victory for the Conservative party was woefully misjudged and ill timed, and almost all aspects of her campaign were incompetently planned, managed and executed.

RETROSPECT

The electorate in the 21st Century have become very much prey to a phenomena that could be described, with the somewhat ugly term - as 'short-termism'.
This is very much a phenomena created by our present 'popular culture', fed by films that rely on 'effects' rather than characters or plots, internet phenomena such as twitter, which require people to abbreviate their thoughts to the point where they become practically meaningless, and where a particular phenomena (be it a book, a recipe, a sport, a fashion or whatever) becomes, if briefly, the ultimate object or attitude 'of our desire', and then - within a very short space of time, is almost completely obliterated from peoples' awareness and memories.
And so it is with 'non-entities' like Theresa May.
Initially posing as a 'latter day' Margaret Thatcher, in some ways she has more in common with the much reviled Tony Blair, (except that unlike 'early' Tony she has no obvious 'charm').
Tony, of course, was 'prince charming', flashing his boyish smile.
Unfortunately Tony had no - (NO) convictions, except that he loved Tony.
So he went whichever way the wind was blowing - as long as he thought that it would help Tony.
In reality, of course, Tony wanted to be a 'pop star' (he actually belonged to  a 'group' at one time), but he had no talent, so for him, the best way to become rich and famous was to become a politician - but without the politics.
Theresa is like Tony in that she goes whichever way the wind is blowing - and as soon as the going got tough, people realized that fact, and were not happy.
What most people do not seem to accept is that Theresa, in the election, was up against a complete no-hoper - an old guy living politically in the 1940s.
He shouldn't have stood a chance, and Theresa should have won with a 'landslide' - but she actually ended up with a 'hung parliament'.

PRIME MINISTERS IN RETROSPECT

Unfortunately, in recent times there have been very few committed prime ministers who one might be able to respect - even if one did not always agree with all their policies.
We can, however make a 'short' list of possible candidates.
Going back there was, of course, Atlee - the creator of the welfare state.
A self-effacing, simple man - about as far away from Blair as one could get.
Also - and a very different character - was conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan.
Seemingly more aristocratic and patrician than he could really lay claim to be, he had been a 'guards officer' in the first world war, and was (while often ruthless) in most ways a 'gentleman' - a description that has long gone out of fashion.
Alec Douglas Hume, although much maligned, was very similar.
Of the later Labour prime ministers, Wilson was an unprincipled, uncultured fool - endlessly burbling on about the 'white heat of technology' - whatever that was.
Blair was all surface  - 'smoke and mirrors'.
John Major was probably the most underrated (and misrepresented) of all recent prime ministers, with his unassuming and genuine desire to have 'a nation at ease with itself' - a most laudable - and at the present time, much needed goal.
Thatcher - well words fail one to describe someone so obviously strange - and essentially un-English.
And our Theresa - ?
Well it is dangerous to make prognostications, but it seems likely that she will be soon forgotten - and perhaps - just as well.