Theresa May
Encyclopedia
Theresa Mary May is a British Conservative politician who is Home Secretary
in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition
government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead
, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party
, 2003–04. Appointed to the Privy Council in 2003, she became Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
and Shadow Minister for Women before being appointed Home Secretary
and the Minister for Women and Equality
in David Cameron
's Cabinet on 11 May 2010.
, Sussex
. She is the daughter of Rev. Hubert Brasier, a Church of England
clergyman and Mrs Zaidee Brasier. Her education was completed at a combination of state primary, independent convent and state secondary schools. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, Oxfordshire, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school
in Begbroke
, which closed in 1984. At the age of 13, she gained a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School in Wheatley
in Oxfordshire. In 1971, the school was abolished and became the site of the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School
during her time as a pupil. May then attended the University of Oxford
where she read Geography at St Hugh's College
, taking a BA (Hons) in 1977.
From 1977 to 1983 May worked at the Bank of England
, and from 1985 to 1997, as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She was a councillor in the London Borough of Merton
from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education (1988–90) and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman (1992–94). In the 1992 general election
May stood (and lost) in the safe Labour seat of North West Durham and then unsuccessfully contested the 1994 Barking by-election
. In the 1997 general election
May was elected the Conservative MP for Maidenhead
which extends as far west as the village of Sonning on the East side of Reading where she lives.
's front-bench Opposition team as Shadow Spokesman for Schools, Disabled People and Women (1998 – June 1999). May became the first of the 1997 MPs to enter the Shadow Cabinet
when in 1999 she was appointed Shadow Education and Employment Secretary. After the 2001 election
the new Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith
retained her services in the Shadow Cabinet, moving her to the Transport portfolio.
May was appointed the first female chairman of the Conservative Party
in July 2002. During her speech at the 2002 Conservative Party Conference while making a point about why her party must change, May controversially stated that the Conservatives were currently perceived as the "nasty party". In 2003, she was sworn of the Privy Council. On the election of Michael Howard
as Conservative leader, he made May Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
in November that year and the Environment
. However in June 2004 she was moved to the new position of Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. After the 2005 election
May's portfolio was expanded and she became Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
whilst remaining Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. David Cameron
appointed her Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
in December 2005 after his accession to the leadership. In January 2009 May was made Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
.
On 6 May 2010, Theresa May was re-elected as MP for Maidenhead with an increased majority of 16,769 — 60 per cent of the vote. This follows an earlier failed attempt to unseat her in 2005 as one of the targets of the Liberal Democrats' "decapitation" strategy.
and Minister for Women and Equality by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
, David Cameron
as part of his first cabinet. May becoming the fourth woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State
, after (in order of seniority) Margaret Thatcher
(Prime Minister
), Margaret Beckett
(Foreign Secretary
) and Jacqui Smith
(Home Secretary
). May's debut as Home Secretary involved overturning several of the previous Labour government's measures on data collection and surveillance in England and Wales. She proposed the abolition of the previous Labour government's National Identity Card and database scheme under the Identity Documents Bill 2010
and reform on the regulations on the retention of DNA samples for suspects and controls on the use of CCTV cameras. On 20 May 2010, May announced the adjournment of the deportation to the USA of alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon
. She also suspended the registration scheme for carers of children and vulnerable people. On 4 August 2010, The Independent
reported that May was scrapping the former Labour government's proposed "go orders" scheme to protect women from domestic violence by banning abusers from the victim's home. The same newspaper reported that this was followed on 6 August 2010 by the closure of the former Labour government's "ContactPoint" database of 11 million under 18 year olds designed to protect children in the wake of the Victoria Climbie
child abuse scandal.
On 2 June 2010, May faced her first major national security incident as Home Secretary with the Cumbria shootings
. May made her first major speech as Home Secretary in a statement on the incident to the House of Commons, later visiting the victims with Prime Minister, David Cameron. Also in June 2010, May banned the Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik
from entering the United Kingdom. As a result two Home Office officials who have disagreed with May's exclusion of Zakir Naik from Britain have been suspended from work. In late June 2010, May announced plans for a temporary cap on UK visas for non-EU migrants. The move raised concerns on the curb's impact on the UK economy. Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers
(ACPO) conference on 29 June 2010, May announced radical cuts to the Home Office budget which are likely to mean a reduction in police numbers. In July 2010, it was reported that May had corresponded with Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of the missing child Madeleine McCann. In August 2010, May attended a private meeting with Mr and Mrs McCann to discuss the case.
In July 2010, May presented the House of Commons with her detailed proposals for a fundamental review of the previous Labour Party government's security and counter-terrorism legislation including "stop and search" powers and her intention to review the 28 day limit on detaining terrorist suspects without charge. The repeals were condemned by the Opposition Labour Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson
. In mid-July 2010, May oversaw a second major gun incident in the North of England with an unsuccessful week-long police operation to capture and arrest Raoul Moat, an ex-convict who shot three people, killing one. The suspect later shot himself dead. During the incident, Moat was shot with a long-range taser
. It later transpired that the firm supplying the taser, Pro-Tect, was in breach of its licence by supplying the police directly with the weapon. Its licence was revoked by the Home Office after the Moat shooting. On 1 October 2010, the BBC reported that the director of the company, Peter Boatman, had apparently killed himself over the incident.
In August 2010, May banned the English Defence League
from holding marches in Bradford
, West Yorkshire planned for Saturday 28 August. The EDL protested the ban claiming they planned a 'peaceful demonstration'. Around 2 pm on the day of the ban, violent disturbances between EDL members and their opponents were reported in Bradford, calling for intervention by riot police.
In early September 2010, allegations resurfaced regarding the phone tapping scandal which saw tabloid newspaper journalists jailed in 2009 for intercepting the mobile phone messages of major public figures in Britain. The case involved a journalist employed by former News of the World
editor Andy Coulson
, now director of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron
. (Coulson was absolved of any role in the bugging incidents during a House of Commons enquiry in 2009.) Labour party leadership candidate Ed Balls
called on the Home Secretary to make a statement on the matter. On 5 September, May told the BBC that there were "no grounds for a public enquiry" on the case. However Scotland Yard
(Metropolitan Police Service) has said it will consider re-examining evidence on the allegations. On Monday 6 September 2010, May faced parliamentary questions on the allegations following an intervention by the Speaker of the House of Commons.
On 9 December 2010 in the wake of violent student demonstrations
against increases to Higher Education tuition fees held in central London, May praised the actions of the police in controlling the demonstrations but was described by the Daily Telegraph as "under growing political pressure" due to her handling of the demonstrations.
In December 2010, May had said that the deployment of water cannon by police forces on the British mainland was an operational decision which had been "resisted until now by senior police officers." On 9 August 2011, May rejected their use and said: "The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities." May said: "I condemn utterly the violence in Tottenham... Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order." She returned to the UK from holiday to meet with senior police officials on 8 August.
In the aftermath of the riots May has revealed that she wants as many of the young criminals identifying as possible. She said: “When I was in Manchester last week, the issue was raised to me about the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of crimes of this sort. The Crown Prosecution Service is to order prosecutors to apply for anonymity to be lifted in any youth case they think it is in the public interest. The law currently protects the identity of any suspect under the age of 18, even if they are convicted, but it also allows for an application to have such restrictions lifted, if deemed appropriate. May added that "What I've asked is that CPS guidance should go to prosecutors to say that where possible, they should be asking for the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of criminal activity to be lifted."
At the Conservative Party Conference on 4 October 2011, while arguing that the Human Rights Act needed to be amended, May gave the example of a foreign national who the courts deemed was allowed to remain in the UK, "because - and I am not making this up - he had a pet cat". In response, the Royal Courts of Justice issued a statement, denying that this was the reason for the tribunal's decision in that case, and instead stated that the real reason was that he was in a genuine relationship with a British woman, and owning a pet cat was simply one of many pieces of evidence given to show that the relationship was "genuine". The Home Office had failed to apply its own rules for dealing with unmarried partners of people settled in the UK. The Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, subsequently called May's comments "laughable and childlike.".
.
Following the actions of a minority of Black Bloc
in vandalising allegedly tax-avoiding
shops and businesses on the day of the 26 March TUC march the Home Secretary unveiled reforms curbing the right to protest, including giving police extra powers to remove masked individuals and to police social networking sites to prevent illegal protest
without police consent or notification.
government's anti-social behaviour
legislation signalling the abolition of the "Anti-Social Behaviour Order
" (ASBO). She identified the policy's high level of failure with almost half of ASBOs breached between 2000 and 2008, leading to "fast track" criminal convictions. May proposed a less punitive, community-based approach to tackling social disorder. May suggested that anti-social behaviour policy "must be turned on its head", reversing the ASBO's role as the flagship crime control policy legislation under Labour. Former Labour Home Secretaries David Blunkett
(who introduced ASBOs) and Alan Johnson
expressed their disapproval of the proposals.
/gay rights movement, as she had voted against lowering the age of consent (in 1998) and against greater adoption rights for homosexuals (in 2002), voting in favour of civil partnerships. May later stated, during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time
, that she had "changed her mind" on gay adoption. Writing for Pink News
in June 2010, May clarified her proposals for improving LGBT rights including measures to tackle homophobia in sport, advocating a need for 'cultural change' in British society.
On 2 July 2010, May stated she would be supporting the previous Labour government's anti-discrimination laws enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 though she had previously opposed this legislation. The Equality Act came into effect in England, Wales and Scotland on 1 October 2010.
On 17 November 2010, May announced the "socio-economic duty" legislation (also known as "Harman
's Law") was to be scrapped. The law would have required public bodies to consider how they can reduce socio-economic inequalities when making decisions about spending and services; the legislation was part of the Equality Act which did not come into force in October and was put up for review.
Since coming to prominence in front-bench politics, May's public image has also tended to polarise press opinion, especially from the traditionalist right-wing press. Commenting on May's debut as Home Secretary
, Anne Perkins of The Guardian
observed that 'she'll be nobody's stooge', while Cristina Odone
of The Daily Telegraph
judged her to be 'the rising star' of the coalition government. Quentin Letts
of The Daily Mail later described May's performance in the role of Home Secretary as 'unflappable' and Allegra Stratton
of the Guardian
described May as showing managerial acumen.
May and her husband own two houses whose value has been estimated at £1.6 million. Her parliamentary expenses have been 'modest' (only just over £15,000 for the past four years) in recent years.
promoting the cross-party issue of gender equality. May was nominated as one of the Society's Inspiring Women of 2006.
May opposes the European Union (Eurosceptic) and she wants to scrap the UK Human Rights Act .
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Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
in the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition
Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
The Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement was a policy document drawn up following the 2010 general election in the United Kingdom...
government. She was elected to Parliament in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead
Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)
Maidenhead is a county constituency in Berkshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system...
, and served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
, 2003–04. Appointed to the Privy Council in 2003, she became Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...
and Shadow Minister for Women before being appointed Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
and the Minister for Women and Equality
Minister for Women and Equality
The post of Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom with responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality.-History:...
in David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
's Cabinet on 11 May 2010.
Early life, education and career
May was born 1 October 1956 in EastbourneEastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. She is the daughter of Rev. Hubert Brasier, a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman and Mrs Zaidee Brasier. Her education was completed at a combination of state primary, independent convent and state secondary schools. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, Oxfordshire, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in Begbroke
Begbroke
Begbroke is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Kidlington and northwest of Oxford.The toponym "Begbroke" is Old English for "Little Brook". This refers to Rowel Brook which runs through the village and was the reason for its early settlement...
, which closed in 1984. At the age of 13, she gained a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School in Wheatley
Wheatley, Oxfordshire
Wheatley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of Oxford.-Archaeology:There was a Roman villa on Castle Hill, about southeast of the parish church. It was excavated in 1845, when Roman coins dating from AD 260 to 378 and fragments of Roman pottery and Roman tiles were...
in Oxfordshire. In 1971, the school was abolished and became the site of the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School
Wheatley Park School
Wheatley Park School is a secondary school of around 1150 pupils situated in Holton, about southeast of Oxford. Its current headteacher is Kate Curtis who was promoted to the position in 2005 to replace Nicholas Young.-History:...
during her time as a pupil. May then attended the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
where she read Geography at St Hugh's College
St Hugh's College, Oxford
St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a fourteen and a half acre site on St Margaret's Road, to the North of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986...
, taking a BA (Hons) in 1977.
From 1977 to 1983 May worked at the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, and from 1985 to 1997, as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She was a councillor in the London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton is a borough in southwest London, England.The borough was formed under the London Government Act in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey...
from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education (1988–90) and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman (1992–94). In the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
May stood (and lost) in the safe Labour seat of North West Durham and then unsuccessfully contested the 1994 Barking by-election
Barking by-election, 1994
The Barking by-election was held on 9 June 1994, following the death of Labour Party Member of Parliament for Barking Jo Richardson. Richardson had represented the seat since the February 1974 general election, following Tom Driberg....
. In the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
May was elected the Conservative MP for Maidenhead
Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)
Maidenhead is a county constituency in Berkshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system...
which extends as far west as the village of Sonning on the East side of Reading where she lives.
Member of Parliament
Having entered Parliament May became a member of William HagueWilliam Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
's front-bench Opposition team as Shadow Spokesman for Schools, Disabled People and Women (1998 – June 1999). May became the first of the 1997 MPs to enter the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
when in 1999 she was appointed Shadow Education and Employment Secretary. After the 2001 election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
the new Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
retained her services in the Shadow Cabinet, moving her to the Transport portfolio.
May was appointed the first female chairman of the Conservative Party
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
in July 2002. During her speech at the 2002 Conservative Party Conference while making a point about why her party must change, May controversially stated that the Conservatives were currently perceived as the "nasty party". In 2003, she was sworn of the Privy Council. On the election of Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
as Conservative leader, he made May Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
in November that year and the Environment
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...
. However in June 2004 she was moved to the new position of Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. After the 2005 election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
May's portfolio was expanded and she became Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport is a United Kingdom cabinet position with responsibility for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The role was created in 1992 by John Major as Secretary of State for National Heritage...
whilst remaining Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
appointed her Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Shadow Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet responsible for working with the Leader of the House in arranging Commons business and holding the Government to account in its overall management of the House...
in December 2005 after his accession to the leadership. In January 2009 May was made Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...
.
On 6 May 2010, Theresa May was re-elected as MP for Maidenhead with an increased majority of 16,769 — 60 per cent of the vote. This follows an earlier failed attempt to unseat her in 2005 as one of the targets of the Liberal Democrats' "decapitation" strategy.
May 2010 to date
On 12 May 2010, May was appointed Home SecretaryHome Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
and Minister for Women and Equality by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
as part of his first cabinet. May becoming the fourth woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State
Great Offices of State
The Great Offices of State in the United Kingdom are the four most senior and prestigious posts in the British parliamentary system of government. They are the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary. Since 11 May 2010 these posts have been...
, after (in order of seniority) Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
(Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
), Margaret Beckett
Margaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
(Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
) and Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...
(Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
). May's debut as Home Secretary involved overturning several of the previous Labour government's measures on data collection and surveillance in England and Wales. She proposed the abolition of the previous Labour government's National Identity Card and database scheme under the Identity Documents Bill 2010
Identity Documents Bill 2010
The Identity Documents Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which reverses the introduction of identity cards and requires the destruction of the information held on the National Identity Register....
and reform on the regulations on the retention of DNA samples for suspects and controls on the use of CCTV cameras. On 20 May 2010, May announced the adjournment of the deportation to the USA of alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who has been accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claims is the "biggest military computer hack of all time," although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO...
. She also suspended the registration scheme for carers of children and vulnerable people. On 4 August 2010, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
reported that May was scrapping the former Labour government's proposed "go orders" scheme to protect women from domestic violence by banning abusers from the victim's home. The same newspaper reported that this was followed on 6 August 2010 by the closure of the former Labour government's "ContactPoint" database of 11 million under 18 year olds designed to protect children in the wake of the Victoria Climbie
Victoria Climbié
In 2000 in London, England, an eight-year-old Ivorian girl Victoria Adjo Climbié was tortured and murdered by her guardians...
child abuse scandal.
On 2 June 2010, May faced her first major national security incident as Home Secretary with the Cumbria shootings
Cumbria shootings
The Cumbria shootings was a killing spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, Derrick Bird, killed 12 people and injured 11 others before killing himself in Cumbria, England....
. May made her first major speech as Home Secretary in a statement on the incident to the House of Commons, later visiting the victims with Prime Minister, David Cameron. Also in June 2010, May banned the Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik
Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation , a non-profit organization that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. He is sometimes referred to as a televangelist...
from entering the United Kingdom. As a result two Home Office officials who have disagreed with May's exclusion of Zakir Naik from Britain have been suspended from work. In late June 2010, May announced plans for a temporary cap on UK visas for non-EU migrants. The move raised concerns on the curb's impact on the UK economy. Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers
Association of Chief Police Officers
The Association of Chief Police Officers , established in 1948, is a private limited company that leads the development of policing practice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.ACPO provides a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinates the strategic...
(ACPO) conference on 29 June 2010, May announced radical cuts to the Home Office budget which are likely to mean a reduction in police numbers. In July 2010, it was reported that May had corresponded with Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of the missing child Madeleine McCann. In August 2010, May attended a private meeting with Mr and Mrs McCann to discuss the case.
In July 2010, May presented the House of Commons with her detailed proposals for a fundamental review of the previous Labour Party government's security and counter-terrorism legislation including "stop and search" powers and her intention to review the 28 day limit on detaining terrorist suspects without charge. The repeals were condemned by the Opposition Labour Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...
. In mid-July 2010, May oversaw a second major gun incident in the North of England with an unsuccessful week-long police operation to capture and arrest Raoul Moat, an ex-convict who shot three people, killing one. The suspect later shot himself dead. During the incident, Moat was shot with a long-range taser
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...
. It later transpired that the firm supplying the taser, Pro-Tect, was in breach of its licence by supplying the police directly with the weapon. Its licence was revoked by the Home Office after the Moat shooting. On 1 October 2010, the BBC reported that the director of the company, Peter Boatman, had apparently killed himself over the incident.
In August 2010, May banned the English Defence League
English Defence League
The English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
from holding marches in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, West Yorkshire planned for Saturday 28 August. The EDL protested the ban claiming they planned a 'peaceful demonstration'. Around 2 pm on the day of the ban, violent disturbances between EDL members and their opponents were reported in Bradford, calling for intervention by riot police.
In early September 2010, allegations resurfaced regarding the phone tapping scandal which saw tabloid newspaper journalists jailed in 2009 for intercepting the mobile phone messages of major public figures in Britain. The case involved a journalist employed by former News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
editor Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
, now director of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
. (Coulson was absolved of any role in the bugging incidents during a House of Commons enquiry in 2009.) Labour party leadership candidate Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....
called on the Home Secretary to make a statement on the matter. On 5 September, May told the BBC that there were "no grounds for a public enquiry" on the case. However Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
(Metropolitan Police Service) has said it will consider re-examining evidence on the allegations. On Monday 6 September 2010, May faced parliamentary questions on the allegations following an intervention by the Speaker of the House of Commons.
On 9 December 2010 in the wake of violent student demonstrations
2010 UK student protests
The 2010 UK student protests were a series of demonstrations that began in November 2010 in several areas of the United Kingdom, with the focal point of protests centred in London. The initial event was the largest student protest in the UK since the Labour government first proposed the Teaching...
against increases to Higher Education tuition fees held in central London, May praised the actions of the police in controlling the demonstrations but was described by the Daily Telegraph as "under growing political pressure" due to her handling of the demonstrations.
In December 2010, May had said that the deployment of water cannon by police forces on the British mainland was an operational decision which had been "resisted until now by senior police officers." On 9 August 2011, May rejected their use and said: "The way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities." May said: "I condemn utterly the violence in Tottenham... Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order." She returned to the UK from holiday to meet with senior police officials on 8 August.
In the aftermath of the riots May has revealed that she wants as many of the young criminals identifying as possible. She said: “When I was in Manchester last week, the issue was raised to me about the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of crimes of this sort. The Crown Prosecution Service is to order prosecutors to apply for anonymity to be lifted in any youth case they think it is in the public interest. The law currently protects the identity of any suspect under the age of 18, even if they are convicted, but it also allows for an application to have such restrictions lifted, if deemed appropriate. May added that "What I've asked is that CPS guidance should go to prosecutors to say that where possible, they should be asking for the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of criminal activity to be lifted."
At the Conservative Party Conference on 4 October 2011, while arguing that the Human Rights Act needed to be amended, May gave the example of a foreign national who the courts deemed was allowed to remain in the UK, "because - and I am not making this up - he had a pet cat". In response, the Royal Courts of Justice issued a statement, denying that this was the reason for the tribunal's decision in that case, and instead stated that the real reason was that he was in a genuine relationship with a British woman, and owning a pet cat was simply one of many pieces of evidence given to show that the relationship was "genuine". The Home Office had failed to apply its own rules for dealing with unmarried partners of people settled in the UK. The Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, subsequently called May's comments "laughable and childlike.".
Police re-organisation
On 26 July 2010, May announced a package of radical reforms to policing in England and Wales in a speech to the House of Commons. Police Authorities are set to be abolished in favour of elected Police and Crime Commissioners. The previous government's central crime agency, Soca (Serious Organised Crime Agency) will be replaced by a new National Crime Agency. In common with the Conservative Party's 2010 general election manifesto's flagship proposal for a "Big Society" based on voluntary action, May also proposed to increase the role of civilian 'reservists' in crime control. The reforms have been rejected by the opposition Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
Following the actions of a minority of Black Bloc
Black bloc
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...
in vandalising allegedly tax-avoiding
UK Uncut
UK Uncut is a United Kingdom-based protest group established in October 2010 to protest against tax avoidance in the UK and to raise awareness about cuts to public services. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientation...
shops and businesses on the day of the 26 March TUC march the Home Secretary unveiled reforms curbing the right to protest, including giving police extra powers to remove masked individuals and to police social networking sites to prevent illegal protest
Public Order Act 1986
The Public Order Act 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of public order offences. They replace similar common law offences and parts of the Public Order Act 1936...
without police consent or notification.
Anti-social behaviour
On 28 July 2010, May proposed to review the previous Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government's anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour, behaviour that helps or benefits society...
legislation signalling the abolition of the "Anti-Social Behaviour Order
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...
" (ASBO). She identified the policy's high level of failure with almost half of ASBOs breached between 2000 and 2008, leading to "fast track" criminal convictions. May proposed a less punitive, community-based approach to tackling social disorder. May suggested that anti-social behaviour policy "must be turned on its head", reversing the ASBO's role as the flagship crime control policy legislation under Labour. Former Labour Home Secretaries David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
(who introduced ASBOs) and Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...
expressed their disapproval of the proposals.
Minister for Women and Equality
May's appointment to the role was initially criticised by some members of the LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
/gay rights movement, as she had voted against lowering the age of consent (in 1998) and against greater adoption rights for homosexuals (in 2002), voting in favour of civil partnerships. May later stated, during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
, that she had "changed her mind" on gay adoption. Writing for Pink News
Pink News
Pink News is a United Kingdom-based online gay newspaper.The paper version, The Pink News, officially launched at the Law Society on 28 June 2006 by Francis Maude, Chairman of the Conservative Party, Meg Munn, Minister for Equality, Simon Hughes, President of the Liberal Democrats and Meg Hillier,...
in June 2010, May clarified her proposals for improving LGBT rights including measures to tackle homophobia in sport, advocating a need for 'cultural change' in British society.
On 2 July 2010, May stated she would be supporting the previous Labour government's anti-discrimination laws enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 though she had previously opposed this legislation. The Equality Act came into effect in England, Wales and Scotland on 1 October 2010.
On 17 November 2010, May announced the "socio-economic duty" legislation (also known as "Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
's Law") was to be scrapped. The law would have required public bodies to consider how they can reduce socio-economic inequalities when making decisions about spending and services; the legislation was part of the Equality Act which did not come into force in October and was put up for review.
Personal life and public image
Theresa married Philip John May on 6 September 1980; she has no children. Outside politics, May states her interests as walking and cooking. May's fashion choices and well-publicised fondness for designer shoes often draw comment in the media. Journalists have drawn parallels between May's shift to designer apparel and her political rise in fortunes since her debut as an MP.Since coming to prominence in front-bench politics, May's public image has also tended to polarise press opinion, especially from the traditionalist right-wing press. Commenting on May's debut as Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, Anne Perkins of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
observed that 'she'll be nobody's stooge', while Cristina Odone
Cristina Odone
Cristina Patricia Odone is a journalist, editor, and writer living in the United Kingdom. She has written for several newspapers, and was formerly the editor of The Catholic Herald, and deputy editor of the New Statesman.- Career :...
of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
judged her to be 'the rising star' of the coalition government. Quentin Letts
Quentin Letts
Quentin Richard Stephen Letts is a British journalist and theatre critic, writing for The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Oldie and New Statesman, and previously for The Times.- Early life :...
of The Daily Mail later described May's performance in the role of Home Secretary as 'unflappable' and Allegra Stratton
Allegra Stratton
Allegra Stratton is a political correspondent for The Guardian in London. She was appointed the political editor of BBC2's Newsnight programme on 21 November 2011.She attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where she read archaeology and anthropology...
of the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described May as showing managerial acumen.
May and her husband own two houses whose value has been estimated at £1.6 million. Her parliamentary expenses have been 'modest' (only just over £15,000 for the past four years) in recent years.
Activism and awards
Prior to her promotion to government, May has actively supported a variety of campaigns on policy issues in her constituency and at the national level of politics. She has spoken at the Fawcett SocietyFawcett Society
The Fawcett Society is an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation's roots date back to 1866 when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage....
promoting the cross-party issue of gender equality. May was nominated as one of the Society's Inspiring Women of 2006.
May opposes the European Union (Eurosceptic) and she wants to scrap the UK Human Rights Act .
External links
- Theresa May MP official constituency website
- The Home Office
- Profile at the Conservative Party
Audio clips
- WPRadio Discussing the Women2Win campaign on Women's Parliamentary RadioWomen's Parliamentary RadioWomen's Parliamentary Radio is a website which broadcasts audio and video interviews with women MPs of all parties.All the interviews are pre-recorded and put on the website as reports which can be streamed and listened to immediately or downloaded as podcasts so that they can be listened to later...
Video clips
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