How did mrs may get so far? | thearticle

As Theresa May’s authority continues to diminish and her time in power draws slowly to an unhappy close, questions are being asked about how such an individual, so evidently unsuited to the

challenges of leading both the Conservative Party and the nation, ever reached such heights. Part of the explanation is that Mrs May appealed to a particular mindset that was prevalent

within the Conservative Party as a whole– not just the MPs who voted for her- during the leadership contest which followed the Brexit referendum in July 2016. This mindset is worth studying

now because, just three years on, it could also affect who replaces her. Deeply embedded within this mindset is a strong reverence for Margaret Thatcher. Not dissimilar in appearance to the

former prime minister, and elected at a similar age (May was 59 on her election, while Thatcher became prime minister at 53) Theresa May was openly feted by many of her supporters in the

election contest as ‘another Iron Lady’ who, by implication, was capable of transforming the country and energising the party with the same vision and determination as her illustrious

predecessor. During her honeymoon period as leader, the press jumped on the Thatcherite bandwagon and hailed her as ‘pure, vintage Maggie’ and a leader who was ‘the ghost of Thatcher past!’

Even today, when it seems ever more hollow and inappropriate, such a comparison is still sometimes aired. It is of course easy to see why, ever since her demise in 1990, so many Conservative

voters have venerated a prime minister who rallied their party to three successive election victories, who radiated and infused such confidence and who, with or without justification, was

credited with the resurrection of a broken country. But if Mrs May seemed, superficially, to be the heir to such a lost leader, or at the very least to bring back memories of it, then she

also benefited from the existential loss of faith that followed the Thatcher years, as John Major destroyed the party’s hard-won reputation for economic competence and led it to electoral

annihilation at the hands of Tony Blair in 1997. This was because of the highly questionable assumption that, to project a ‘softer’ image in general and, in particular, to attract more

female voters (who had migrated to Labour en masse in 1997), the Conservative Party needed a woman at its helm. Severely mauled in three Blairite elections, and in 2010 unable to win an

outright majority against a recession-struck Labour government led by an incompetent prime minister, many Conservatives were willing to positively discriminate, consciously or not, in her

favour. On this count, she (and Andrea Leadsom) had an immediate advantage over the other 2016 candidates and hopefuls. A candidate’s perceived appeal to women and was regarded as more

important than any belief in Tory values such as ‘freedom’, ‘responsibility’ and low taxation. There was another reason why Mrs May benefited from her party’s post-Thatcher loss of

self-confidence. Over the preceding two decades, many politicians (on all sides of the spectrum and beyond Britain as well as within) had pondered the mysterious electoral charm of Tony

Blair, whose poll ratings had quickly reached stratospheric heights after he became Labour Party leader in 1994. Some, like David Cameron, sought to emulate his broad church, centrist

approach, while others emphasised Blair’s slick style of presentation, which was cleverly crafted for telegenic soundbites. In several different ways, Theresa May has aped the Labour leader.

This is not just because of her nebulous politics, which seem to be a mixture of left and right without being either. It is also because her manner of speech curiously, although probably

quite unconsciously, echoes his own. Both articulate with great earnestness and apparent integrity, winning the trust of their audience. Just listen to her famous or infamous pronouncement –

‘Brexit means Brexit’ – and compare the integrity that she conveys with the superficiality of Tony Blair, a supreme actor. And as a vicar’s daughter who solemnly proclaims her ‘duty’ to

‘serve her country’, she also shares the same moral piety that the Labour leader always tried to project. So by virtue of her gender, appearance and manner of speech, Mrs May’s election as

leader in 2016 represented a curious merger of three distinct attitudes that have held powerful sway within Tory ranks over many years. And as the Party gets ready for another leadership

context, its members must be wary of repeating the same error: potential leaders should be judged on so many other things – such as a proven track record in debating and a convincing vision

of a nation shaped by Conservative values – rather than by any superficial considerations that reach deep within their own mindset.