Britain will have first female leader since Margaret Thatcher
Source: The Washington Post
The contest will pit the home affairs secretary, Theresa May, against Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom in a race that features contenders who were on opposite sides of last months European Union referendum.
In a vote among 330 Tory members of Parliament on Thursday, May was on top with 199 votes compared to 84 for Leadsom. A third candidate, justice secretary Michael Gove, was knocked out after securing just 46 votes.
May officially backed remain, but in practice largely sat on the sidelines.
She has long held strongly Euroskeptic views, and has said that there will be no rerun of the referendum if she becomes prime minister. Brexit means Brexit, she said last week when she announced her candidacy.
Polls show that May is well ahead of Leadsom among Conservative members, just as she was among the partys Parliamentary delegation.
Leadsom has continued to be an outspoken advocate for Brexit, even as other prominent leave campaigners have stepped back from frontline politics amid the chaos unleashed by last months vote.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/british-prime-minister-contest-down-to-two-women-amid-eu-exit-fallout/2016/07/07/8499b76e-4390-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac_story.html
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)w4rma
(31,700 posts)TexasProgresive
(12,158 posts)LeftishBrit
(41,210 posts)The frontrunner is a somewhat less intelligent version of Thatcher. The alternative, of whom practically no one had previously heard, seems to be a somewhat more intelligent version of Palin (and I did say 'somewhat'!)
T_i_B
(14,747 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)be able to put up a woman that can become Prime Minister?
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)StevieM
(10,500 posts)He was temporarily succeeded by Margaret Becket, who was deputy party leader. She lost the leadership election to Tony Blair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)_leadership_election,_1994
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)She wasn't in the leadership that I know of, but seems to have been well though of and highly energetic. Might have had an interesting future in Labour had she lived.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)Actually, it turns out that Harriet Harman was acting Labour Party leader on two occasions, first when Gordon Smith stepped down and then again when Ed Miliband stepped down.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)and I don't really know that much about Cox, just that from her obits she seemed to have a future over there.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Any UK DUers who can explain why she never got the top job?
T_i_B
(14,747 posts)Harman's stint as acting leader was in fact a total disaster. her mishandling of a very important welfare vote was a major factor in the election of Jeremy Corbyn.
There were 2 female candidates for Labour leader standing against Corbyn. Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. Yvette Cooper is just about the most unispiring, mealy-mouthed politican imaginable, and Liz Kendall ran on a right wing ultra-Blairite plaform, which unsurprisingly only got her 5% of the vote in the Labour leadership contest.
Andrea Eagle has been talked of as a possible challenger to Jeremy Corbyn, although I'm not sure she would be the best candidate Labour has to offer.
Always good to get my misconceptions corrected by people who actually know what they are talking about.
underpants
(182,879 posts)???
underpants
(182,879 posts)Could come in handy really soon
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)w4rma
(31,700 posts)T_i_B
(14,747 posts)Men are increasingly playing less of a role, and women more of a role.
The only reason I can think of for this is that male politicians are increasingly in the Donald Trump / Nigel Farage mould. Figures with big mouths who shy away from responsibility and have no statesmanship whatsoever. Compare and contrast with a politician like Angela Merkel and it just becomes embarrassing.