I wouldn’t take her job if it were offered to me.
PM of Britain. Did Theresa May stand in the mirror as a sixteen year old and practice a victory speech after a British Federal Election and thank her imaginary voters for making her Prime Minister?
I’ve given a few imaginary victory speeches in my life, but never for winning a federal election.
This woman has guts and there seems to be very little glory. She’s running again… As a politician she’s been in many elections but this will be her first as leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, the favoured to win in the election on 8th of June.
But – to my transAtlantic readers I address – how is it that there is an election if she’s in the favoured party and there isn’t an election due for three years? What’s the point?
The point is that Theresa May stepped in when PM David Cameron lost “his” referendum on European Union membership. He stepped down and out of politics and, after a brief tussle for leadership, Ms May won and has been at the helm ever since. But while the people in the country seem to like her more than they liked her predecessor, some in her own party grumble. And there are many grumblers in the Senate as well… grumblers not against Theresa May in particular, but sour grapes or “rumbly tumblys” over the issue of Brexit. Of course there is the issue of voters not actually voting for Theresa May as their PM but that’s a relatively minor issue in the Parliamentary System that Britain has.
A year ago Britain went to the polls and voted to leave the EU. It wasn’t a resounding victory, in fact it was quite a surprise and quite a close result. But Theresa May has worked uphill just to get through the initial process to trigger the exit. And, by the way, she wasn’t a Leaver! She didn’t particularly want the country to leave the EU but since it has voted to do so, she has pulled out all the stops to make sure it happens.
Now that the trigger has been fired, and the UK has formally told the EU “We are leaving”, comes the hard task of making a good deal with the EU and countries around the world, so that the bottom doesn’t fall out of British life. Theresa May has to do the dealing. But with many politicians wishing to remain and sticking in their heals, and moaning that they don’t like how she’s suggesting a post Brexit Britain will look, they threaten to make it darn near impossible for her to deal.
So she wants a big mandate from the public to proceed in the manner she has been doing.
She’s going to the polls — again. Against her personal desires, and against the wishes of most ordinary folk who are quite fed up with elections, she’s telling folks, ‘If you like what I’m doing to honour your vote, help me finish the job… otherwise, my hands are tied and we’ll get bad deals all-round’. Well, she hasn’t said that but that is basically an accurate picture. Remainers are still trying to avoid the inevitable reality of Britain leaving the EU, and seem still to be trying to influence and control the next steps.
Theresa May is working for an outcome she didn’t expect or express she believed in, and is doing it because that’s what the electorate voted for. That is integrity personified! From where I’m sitting, she is exhibiting democratic leadership and holding a selfless agenda.
The early polls suggests she’s going to win. If she doesn’t win with a big majority, those against her will hound and needle and track her until there is little room left for her to finesse and orchestrate her deals for Britain.
Yup, Britain is going to the polls again. Let’s see if the mandate she needs is what she gets. Let’s see if a selfless politician is able to bring Britain the new hope it voted for, and lead us into a new era — into the vast unknown. Sounds interesting to me. What do you think?
