In the last month, Britain has witnessed the kind of once in a generation political instability that will end up being taught by politics lecturers in 30 or 40 years time. Out of the torrent of backstabbing and the accusations has emerged but one constant. Theresa Mary May. It is her ability to hold the Home Office for so long and with so few faults that really distinguished herself from the rest of the pack and has ensured that she shall be next Prime Minister of the country. She was never the most popular of the candidates that put themselves forward for election. Indeed, as recently as June she was polling in 3rd in Conservative Home polling data, a full 14% behind then leader of the pack Michael Gove. She made a fair amount of enemies in the way that she implemented the cuts to police budgets and has been viewed in many quarters as lacking the necessary personal characteristics in order to become Prime Minister. Indeed, her career has been plagued by gossip over what clothes or shoes she is wearing at any given engagement, as if that is the most important thing that she has to worry about. Those who have expended such energy on petty gossip made the grave mistake of underestimating her. Their complacency has helped her achieve the peak of British politics. Much energy was focused upon two Oxford Union presidents (Gove and Johnson) but it was the unassuming Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) office holder that managed to bring them all down.
Theresa May represents a lot of thing for the Conservative Party. She first represents an opportunity to ensure that the party remains united in the aftermath of the referendum decision to leave the European Union (whether a second, legally binding referendum shall be required during the May premiership in order to trigger Article 50 remains to be seen). The other major opportunity is for her to shape a new policy landscape. The only area in which her views are known are on the issues that are pertinent to the Home Office, and these are likely to soften up once negotiation begins on a new post-EU settlement. There are three distinctive paths. She may pander to the right by either pursuing a more economically liberal or a more socially conservative agenda. Considering the disdain that she has recently expressed again unfettered capitalism, it is likely that she would prefer the latter. The second course of action is to continue on the blueprint of governance as it was set out by Cameron. The Notting Hill set way of doing politics has a lot of flaws though. It is a thoroughly uninspiring doctrine that has managed to degenerate the meaning of the phrase 'compassionate conservatism' into a mere soundbite and seems overly obsessed with office seeking.
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