Theresa may

Saturday

Ariane Sherine

Why Theresa May must channel her inner comic

From our UK edition

Going into her first PMQs as Prime Minister on Wednesday, Theresa May faced the same struggles as a female stand-up comic. Taking the reins in an overwhelmingly male world, as only the second ever female PM and the most visible of the 29 per cent of female MPs, it was imperative that she appeared confident and in control. One tremor, pause or sign of uncertainty and, like a comedy club audience, the braying MPs would have taken the opportunity to jeer, laugh or heckle – and that’s before the press got stuck in. Fortunately for May, she looked like a natural, and appeared to have nerves of steel. Though eight years younger and six centimetres shorter than Jeremy Corbyn, she seemed more self-possessed and at ease than the Leader of the Opposition.

Philip Sime

French press fury after Hollande caves in to May

From our UK edition

Theresa May's warm reception in France has gone down well in Britain after she won key concessions from the beleaguered French President, François Hollande. But the cordial nature of their meeting - and the fact that Hollande appeared to cave in to May on a number of important issues - has not been so happily received in France. It had been expected that Hollande would take a much harder line on Brexit and the French press had hoped the bilateral meeting would be an opportunity for the French President to take Britain's new Prime Minister to task. As it happened, the two leaders agreed that British border controls will remain in place at Calais and that Britons living in France will be allowed to stay for as long as they desire.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters | 21 July 2016

From our UK edition

Our terrified youth Sir: Both Claire Fox’s ‘Generation Snowflake’ and Mary Wakefield’s recent column (What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?, 16 July) get to the root of the terrified pessimism which (I am told) afflicts much of today’s youth. At 67, I’m fortunate enough to mix with quite a few thoroughly aware, thoughtful and successful young ’uns who eschew the sanctity of ‘safe spaces’ for the rumbustious joy of boozing, singing, dancing, loving and socialising and generally tackling that fearful world head on in ferocious defiance. As Chesterton so perfectly put it in his reply ‘To Young Pessimists’ Some sneer; some snigger; some simper; In youth where we laughed, and sang.

Alexander Chancellor

Long life | 21 July 2016

From our UK edition

One of David Cameron’s last decisions as prime minister was to get the brass doorbell of No. 10 cleaned. I know this from my friend and Northamptonshire neighbour, Kevin, a brilliant plasterer and decorator, who has been working for years on restoring the fabric of the house in Downing Street. Cameron had noted that the doorbell had gone green and asked Kevin to deal with the problem, so Kevin cleaned it himself. It’s not as if the bell is often used, for the door tends to open magically when any important visitor arrives. It behaves like an automatic door, but it’s really opened by an unseen doorkeeper whenever the visitor appears on the threshold.

Robin Oakley

The Brexit effect

From our UK edition

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Theresa May’s arrival at No. 10 is that it has given us back a prime minister who has owned a racehorse. Well, part of one anyway. Theresa the Merciless was once in a syndicate at William Muir’s friendly Lambourn yard which owned a grey called Dome Patrol, the winner of a couple of races back in the 1990s. At least it did better than Brexit, a two-year-old filly that finished sixth at Newbury on referendum day after being fifth the time before. Not exactly going in the right direction...

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 21 July 2016

From our UK edition

Home Theresa May made a speech in the open air in Downing Street after kissing hands with the Queen as the new Prime Minister. ‘As we leave the European Union,’ she said, ‘we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us.’ In her new cabinet Boris Johnson, the failed contender for the leadership of the party, was made Foreign Secretary, replacing Philip Hammond, who became Chancellor of the Exchequer in place of George Osborne, who was sacked. Amber Rudd became Home Secretary, replacing Mrs May, and Liz Truss became Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, replacing Michael Gove, who was sacked. She is the first female Lord Chancellor in the millennium-long history of the office.

The Spectator

Theresa’s first mistake

From our UK edition

This week's lead article, as read by Lara Prendergast Helga Hunter met her husband Michael when he was a Scots Guardsman serving in Münster in 1968. She moved back with him, and they have lived in Britain ever since. Last week, she was astonished to receive a letter from the Scottish National Party saying that she is still ‘welcome in Scotland’ and faces ‘no immediate changes’ to her status due to the Brexit vote. But as a German national, she now faces ‘great uncertainty over how events will unfold’. To the SNP’s enemies, this seemed a deplorable scare tactic intended to fuel indignation and stoke demand for a second independence referendum. It’s certainly deplorable. But in fact, the scare tactic came from Downing Street.

James Forsyth

Theresa May gets a warmer than expected reception in Paris, and a pledge on the border

From our UK edition

Paris was meant to be the more difficult leg of Theresa May’s first European tour as Prime Minister. But May’s press conference with Francois Hollande was far more cordial than expected. The French President was at pains to stress all the forms of cooperation that would continue between the two countries after the UK  left the EU. He continued to back the Le Touquet agreement which keeps the UK border at Calais.  However, he still wants Article 50 served quickly; ‘the sooner, the better’ was how he put it. There was, though, a tiny bit of softening on the question of talking about things before then. May, for her part, turned in a crisp performance.

Melanie McDonagh

Have the police completely lost the plot today?

From our UK edition

Is it something to do with Theresa May’s departure as Home Secretary, or are the police completely losing it? The first extraordinary circumstance today is that police have advised Angela Eagle, until yesterday, a Labour leadership candidate, that she should no longer hold constituency surgeries – you know, that regular point of contact between MPs and the people they were elected by and for whom they work. Presumably this is because someone lobbed a brick through the window of her constituency office, possibly inflamed by her standing against the leader or maybe just revolted by her pink fuchsia jackets. Now, Miss Eagle is irritating in any number of ways, but this strikes me as an outrage.

Nick Hilton

Sam Allardyce is to football what Theresa May is to politics

From our UK edition

They call him Big Sam. At 6’3 that’s not an unlikely nickname, especially when you’ve spent most of your professional career crunching through opposition centre-forwards. But the mythology of Big Sam goes beyond mere volume. Sam Allardyce has just been appointed to the role of England football manager. The great poisoned chalice of international sport, Allardyce succeeds Roy Hodgson, a man whose own affectionate moniker was extracted from his speech impediment. But there was nothing big about Woy. Allardyce is taking over at a time of crisis.

James Forsyth

Enjoy the honeymoon, Theresa. It won’t last

From our UK edition

Theresa May has been keen to stress that she doesn’t want this country or her government to be defined by Brexit. In her first week as Prime Minister, she has moved quickly to show that she isn’t going to be continuity Cameron. Her reshuffle made the cabinet less posh and more suburban than her predecessor’s. She has suggested that grammar schools might be on the way back, and national-interest tests could be introduced for foreign takeovers. Things are changing fast. May — and those around her — are modernisers. It’s just that they feel the previous modernisation was wrong.

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Theresa May’s hard head and soft heart is terrifying for Labour

From our UK edition

What we know for sure about our secretive new PM is that she uses her clothes as a bush-telegraph. What did the tom-toms tell us? Mrs May was done up like an Evesham house-wife going to dinner with her husband’s boss in about 1950. Neat hair. Navy blue jacket. White top underneath. A rope of fake pearls and just a hint of neck. Across the shires the faithful will have cheered this display of Brief Encounter elegance. She was good at the despatch box, nervous certainly, sometimes stumbling over her words. But she produced a forceful impression of competence and compassion. Hard head. Soft heart. She has ‘grip’ as they say. Terrifying for Labour. She should work on her gags by not working on her gags. Her strain of humour is so dry it can seem effortful. Haughty even.

Isabel Hardman

The net migration reckoning draws nearer

From our UK edition

Is the new government under Theresa May going to ditch the target to drive net migration into the tens of thousands? Amber Rudd and Boris Johnson signalled a change of policy from the back-of-a-fag-packet plan yesterday by saying the aim was to ‘bring migration down to sustainable levels’, though Downing Street insisted that this was not an end to the target, saying ‘the Prime Minister does see sustainable levels as down to the tens of thousands’. It would be odd, given May’s personal commitment to the net migration target, and her personal frustration (and that of her aide Nick Timothy) that it wasn’t met as a result - in her view at least - of special pleading from other ministers, especially George Osborne and ministers in the Business department.

Tom Goodenough

Did Theresa May’s flash of nastiness at PMQs tell of trouble to come?

From our UK edition

That Theresa May 'won' Prime Minister's Questions today, there is no doubt. Tory backbencher Simon Hoare said it was 'game, set and match' and few are likely to disagree with that summation of what took place in the Commons. Jeremy Corbyn was repeatedly left floundering throughout by a politician who showed that she means business. As James Forsyth says, the Labour benches looked even more fed-up than usual upon their realisation of just how effective an adversary May will be. But from the woman who famously coined the 'nasty party' term about the Tories, was there also a part of that moniker on display from the despatch box this afternoon? It certainly seemed that way. Take this exchange with Tim Farron.

James Forsyth

Theresa May wipes the floor with Jeremy Corbyn at her first PMQs

From our UK edition

Theresa May was utterly brutal with Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs today. She mocked the Labour leader repeatedly, leaving the Tory benches delighted and the Labour benches looking more miserable than ever. Once again, Corbyn’s problem was his inability to think on his feet. He asked May about Boris Johnson saying that some of Barack Obama’s view came from him being ‘part-Kenyan’ and his use of the word ‘piccaninnies’. May didn’t defend the new Foreign Secretary, instead choosing to answer a different bit of Corbyn’s question. But the Labour leader failed, as he so often does, to properly follow up on this. Corbyn then walked into a trap.

Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May ridicules ‘unscrupulous’ Corbyn over Labour job insecurity

From our UK edition

In recent weeks, Jeremy Corbyn's popularity has hit a new low with the Parliamentary Labour Party. Things are so bad that he is unable to assemble a full Shadow Cabinet -- instead having to assign some people with more than one position. So, it was an interesting move of the Labour leader to bring up job insecurity and difficult bosses at today's PMQs. Corbyn suggested that Theresa May had much work to do when it came to making employment rights fairer. Alas, the Prime Minister was unimpressed with Corbyn's complaints.

Charlotte Gill

The show’s over for the Women’s Equality Party

From our UK edition

In the post-Brexit upheaval, the Women’s Equality Party (WEP) has fallen out of sight. Its members once told us 'WE can, WE will', but now WEP isn’t doing anything at all. Not since 24 June when leader Sophie Walker offered her most prophetic statements to date. In Newsweek Europe, she wrote that post-Brexit, we would urgently need 'women on the table', and that 'Britain leaving the EU means more women will get involved in politics'. Little did she know her words would ring true, in the most unexpected way; as weeks later, a woman would not only be on the table, but head of it. And since Theresa May became Prime Minister, it’s been win, win, win for the ladies - with Amber Rudd, Justine Greening and Liz Truss now in some of Britain’s top roles.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May’s first Cabinet meeting gives us a glimpse of her leadership style

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s first Cabinet meeting wasn’t accompanied by the kind of eye-catching announcement you would have expected from Tony Blair or David Cameron. Instead, the big news is that the new Prime Minister will chair three Cabinet committees on the economy and industrial strategy, exiting the European Union, international trade and social reform. This does rather underline her reputation for being someone who doesn’t like delegating, as well as her interest in the serious machinery of government, rather than media gimmicks. She then underlined her serious reputation further by welcoming colleagues to the coffin-shaped table in Downing Street by saying the following: ‘When I launched my leadership campaign, I said that politics is not a game.

Flora Neville

Why Theresa May’s No 10 will be like a vicarage

From our UK edition

What do Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Margaret Thatcher and, ahem, me have in common? We are all daughters of the clergy. Thatcher’s father was a lay Methodist preacher, so she’s not strictly in our camp, but the coincidence is close enough to call. When I was young, I secretly harboured the suspicion that I was royalty and I courted this suspicion by making sure to always wear flouncy dresses on Sundays, a habit I still haven’t quite relinquished. I wonder if Theresa May’s well-charted interest in leopard print shoes has similar origins. Growing up in a vicarage is a unique upbringing, and creates a kind of brotherhood (or sisterhood) among fellow vicars' kids.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s dismal showing gives Sajid Javid a gentler first day in the job

From our UK edition

Theresa May's new government gets to work today, and first to face the heat of the Chamber was the Communities and Local Government frontbench. Unfortunately, the Chamber turned out to be rather cool, as very few Labour MPs had managed to turn up, giving Sajid Javid and his team a rather gentler introduction to their new jobs. One of them, Andrew Percy, told the Chamber that 'I share the House's surprise!' on this appointment as he rose to take his first question. But largely the questions that were asked were not a surprise for the frontbench. Some Tory MPs were anxious for a renewed commitment from the new ministers to the sanctity of the Green Belt, as even a perceived threat to those doughnuts of protected land around cities can send Tory voters into a wild panic.