Why Theresa May was a poor leader

 

Theresa May was Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Conservative party from July 2016 to July 2019. Although she had strong support at the start from the Conservative party, who saw her as all-powerful, she was an inept leader. May had completely misjudged the public during the 2017 General Election where she lost the Conservatives their slim majority. She was completely reliant on her advisors, Nick Timothy (who came up with ‘Brexit means Brexit’) and Fiona Hill and then on the DUP. May was someone who had kept deliberately low during the 2016 referendum campaign (she barely campaigned for Remain) and then reinvented herself as a Brexiteer who wanted out of the single market and customs union. Although she was never a Brexiteer at any cost (for example she was committed to the Good Friday Agreement and was against a hard border in Ireland) she presented herself as such through her infamous ‘Citizens of nowhere’ speech. May did not have many allies in government or in the opposition and she struggled to garner support for her Brexit bill which was defeated three times. In the 2019 European Elections the Conservatives gained a mere 7% of the total vote which was due to her repeatedly delaying Brexit until her deal (which included the backstop) and that is what ultimately led to her resignation. She was a Unionist who did not realise that Brexit could have disastrous effects on the Union. She failed to set out a clear vision and failed to sell it to the public and that was to her detriment.

However, what can be said about May is that she is a good public servant. She remains committed to her constituency where she is much valued (she has been an MP for Maidenhead since 1997). May has not joined the path of former Prime Ministers by entering the speech circuit for hundreds of thousands of pounds. She has spoken out against the foreign aid cuts. It’s just unfortunate she was ill-equipped to deal with the country. That acknowledged, she was a better leader than Andrea Leadsom (who was a true Brexiteer and who I reckon the Conservative grassroots would have chosen despite her lack of experience). Lessons can be learnt from her short premiership.