Monday, July 11, 2016

Prime Minister Theresa May

Democracy in Motion

Theresa May 2015.jpg  
Photo courtesy www.flickr.com

The process of selecting a new Conservative Leader in United Kingdom suddenly compacted from weeks to days after Theresa May's opponent Andrea Leadsom withdrew her candidacy earlier today. Theresa May is now expected to take over as Prime Minister on Wednesday of this week.

David Cameron's resignation, short listing of two candidates by Conservative MPs and then withdrawal of one candidate who felt she had no chance of winning is keeping with democratic traditions and a lesson for many other countries which maintain a democratic facade, but never follow democratic traditions. U.K.'s Labor Party leader will now also be under pressure and resign to allow new leadership to emerge.

Theresa May was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, studied at Oxford and worked at Bank of England for a while. She was elected to House of Commons in 1997 and has been the Home Secretary since 2010 overseeing immigration, police and national security.

Ms. May is known to be a no nonsense person with a laser like focus on issues and is known as a tough cookie with a stern personality.

It will be interesting to see how she conducts herself face to face with Angela Merkel and other European leaders who are in no mood to negotiate anything before U.K. exits Europe. She may have to trigger article 50 withdrawal sooner than she would prefer to. She may also have to deal with challenges pertaining to Scotland's expected separation from U.K.

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