Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Who is Theresa May?
Who is Theresa May?
Jan 20, 2026 6:01 PM

A true feminist, a devout Christian, and a leader mon sense will soon move into 10 Downing Street.

As excitement—and dismay—surrounded Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, Remainer and (former) prime minister, David Cameron announced his resignation from British parliament’s highest position. Today he officially leaves office, allowing Theresa May to e the next British Prime Minister.

Originally, Cameron planned to wait until October to pass the torch to the next leader, but on Monday he stated that, “we now don’t need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister’s questions.”

The background on May’s rise to this office may be a plicated to Americans, pared to our current messy presidential election. Rather than a national vote for a new prime minister, in the British parliamentary system the ruling party’s leader (in this case, the Conservatives) automatically es prime minister.

Two candidates vying to take over the Conservative Party, and ultimately the prime minister’s seat, were May and Andrea Leadsom. But the two never went to election as Leadsom decided to drop out after people took offense to her suggestions that she’d make a better leader than May because she is a mother and May is not. ments were particularly unacceptable, as May has been open about her desire to have a family with her husband of 35 years, Phillip John May, and that not having children is an “ultra-sensitive topic” for her. With Leadsom dropping out, May became leader of the Conservative Party and now will e the second female British prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher.

Theresa May had been the Home Secretary since 2010. There is no real American equivalent to this office, but the Secretary of Homeland Security is probably the closest. The Home Secretary reports to the prime minister and overseas British internal affairs.

While much news has focused on May’s propensity to wear eclectic and nontraditional shoes or her lack of children, more focus should be given to her faith.

She is the only child of Rev Hubert, a vicar, and Zaidee Brasier. The late reverend’s sense of duty mitment to helping those around him inspired in his daughter a desire to e a politician also with a clear sense of duty to country and her people. “You don’t think about yourself,” she said. “The emphasis is on others.” She sees her political work as a vocation rather than a “job.” A typical Brit, May has attempted to keep her private and faith life out of the public eye and does not try to evangelize using her influence, “it’s good we don’t flaunt such things in British politics,” she once said when discussing her faith.

More than just simply growing up in a devout home, May continues to practice Anglicanism. One of her favorite songs is “When I survey the wondrous cross” and when discussing religion, she said, “It is part of me, part of whom I am and how I approach things.”

She pays special attention to the vulnerable in society, and has called on other conservatives to fight against injustice in society:

If you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If you’re black you will be treated much more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white. If you’re a white working class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else to go to university … If you’re at a state school, you’re less likely to reach the top professions than if you’re educated privately. If you’re a woman you still earn less than a man. If you suffer from mental health problems, there’s too often not enough help to hand.

Also notable, since it arguably led to her ing prime minister, is May’s stance on Brexit. Before the vote, she wanted to remain in the European Union, but since the country made the decision for Brexit, May has made it clear she will not attempt to undermine the voters’ decision. “Brexit means Brexit” she assured the British people. Moving forward she seeks “unity” and will focus on “negotiat[ing] the best deal for Britain as we leave the EU and forge a new role for ourselves in the world.”

Regarding her views on trade and the market, she’s kept mum. Political editor for the Financial Times, George Parker says that she was “short on specifics” when outlining her vision for business. Echoing that sentiment though going even further, Janan Ganesh calls her a “mystery.” Also writing for the financial times, he says that “[a]ll we can do is assemble clues” when attempting to summarize her economic views.

Only the second woman to be named British Prime Minister, someone who is firmly grounded in her faith, and a leader who puts her people and her country before herself, Theresa May’s new role is one that I think we can celebrate in the United States.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The glory of socialized medicine
It’s a shame that the marvel of government-controlled health care hasn’t been implemented in the US yet: Seriously ill patients are being kept in ambulances outside hospitals for hours so NHS trusts do not miss Government targets. Thousands of people a year are having to wait outside accident and emergency departments because trusts will not let them in until they can treat them within four hours, in line with a Labour pledge. What a fool I’ve been to oppose this...
A note on social and intellectual history
Speaking of the history of morality and moral judgments in historiography, Alister MacIntyre makes a pointed observation about plementary distinction that arises between what might be called “intellectual” and “social” history: Abstract changes in moral concepts are always embodied in real, particular events. There is a history yet to be written in which the Medici princes, Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell, Frederick the Great and Napoleon, Walpole and Wilberforce, Jefferson and Robespierre are understood as expressing their actions, often partially...
Washington Times on green candidates
Presidential front-runners and Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are lacking environmental leadership by failing to pay for offsets to cover their campaign carbon emissions. An article in the Washington Times titled, Green Crusades Lot of Talk, by Stephen Dinan, notes John McCain and Barack Obama aren’t leading by example. “Though both campaigns say they practice energy conservation, Mr. Obama offsets only some of his airplane flight emissions, while Mr. McCain doesn’t cover even that,” says Dinan. It looks as...
Climate change food for thought
“The challenge of climate change is at once individual, local, national and global. Accordingly, it urges a multilevel coordinated response, with mitigation and adaptation programs simultaneously individual, local, national and global in their vision and scope”, stated Archbishop Celestino Migliore, representative of the Holy See, at the 62nd session of the U.N. General Assembly, which took place earlier this month. The theme of the session was “Addressing Climate Change: The United Nations and the World at Work.” Much attention is...
The cost of good intentions
Interesting: Backed by studies showing that middle-class Seattle residents can no longer afford the city’s middle-class homes, consensus is growing that prices are too darned high. But why are they so high? An intriguing new analysis by a University of Washington economics professor argues that home prices have, perhaps inadvertently, been driven up $200,000 by good intentions. Just some food for thought on a Friday afternoon. ...
Georgia town reconnects with radio legend
Ernie Harwell was calling the play by play over television for the first live televised sports broadcast from coast to coast. The series featured the famous “shot heard round the world” at the Polo Grounds in 1951. It’s possibly baseball’s most well known historic moment featuring a dramatic 9th inning home run by Bobby Thompson to defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers, sending the New York Giants to the World Series. It was Russ Hodges radio call of the same game, however,...
Kosovo: Pandora’s Box
Nearly two years ago, in “Who Will Protect Kosovo’s Christians?” I wrote: Dozens of churches, monasteries and shrines have been destroyed or damaged since 1999 in Kosovo, the cradle of Orthodox Christianity in Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church lists nearly 150 attacks on holy places, which often involve desecration of altars, vandalism of icons and the ripping of crosses from Church rooftops. A March 2004 rampage by Albanian mobs targeted Serbs and 19 people, including eight Kosovo Serbs, were killed...
Orthodoxy and economic globalization
AGAIN Magazine has published my “Conflicted Hearts: Orthodox Christians and Social Justice in an Age of Globalization.” The magazine is produced by Conciliar Press Ministries, Inc., a department of the self-ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church of North America. Excerpt: Just as there is no real understanding of many bioethical issues without a general grasp of underlying medical technology, there is no real understanding of “social justice” without an understanding of basic economic principles. These principles explain how Orthodox Christians work,...
‘A Patriarch in dire straits’
Bartholomew I mentary this week looked at “Encountering the Mystery,” the new book from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Orthodox Church. In 1971, the Turkish government shut down Halki, the partriarchal seminary on Heybeliada Island in the Sea of Marmara. And it has progressively confiscated Orthodox Church properties, including the expropriation of the Bûyûkada Orphanage for Boys on the Prince’s Islands (and properties belonging to an Armenian Orthodox hospital foundation). These expropriations happen as religious minorities report problems associated...
Global Warming Consensus alert: Climate linked to sun
A Harvard Astrophysicist argues that global warming is more related to solar cycles than to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. QUICK! Someone find out how Exxon managed to buy her off! In her lecture series, “Warming Up to the Truth: The Real Story About Climate Change,” astrophysicist Dr. Sallie Baliunas shared her findings Tuesday at the University of Texas at Tyler R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center. Dr. Baliunas’ work with fellow Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astronomer Willie...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved