Theresa May resigns- but is there worse to come?
UK prime minister Theresa May yesterday announced that she would step down as leader of the country and the Conservative Party. It brings to an end a near three year premiership in which she has failed to deliver Brexit amongst many other issues.
May will officially resign as PM on June 7th, triggering a new leadership to take place in the following week. In her resignation speech she spoke of how her party had successfully injected more money into the NHS in the form of a 5 year plan and tackled homelessness and poverty, yet the NHS is still on its knees and almost 600 people died on the streets of the UK last year.
These stats go to show that May and this Conservative government has ultimately failed to leave the country in a better position than when they picked it up.
Her failure with Brexit will overshadow any slim ‘successes’ herself or her party may claim to have achieved.
May has a track record of being resilient and emotionless, leading to a lot of comparisons to Margaret Thatcher in her steely determination. All of these ‘Iron Lady 2.0’ remarks melted away during her resignation speech as her voice broke and tears flowed.
Yet it is hard to have sympathy with a woman who has led a government which has failed the people of this country. The homeless and poverty stricken in the UK today will hardly feel any sympathy towards her for losing a job which will have no financial impact on her.
Attentions turned almost immediately to who would replace May as Conservative Leader and PM. Boris Johnson seems to be most people’s favourite, with Dominic Raab, Michael Gove and Jacob Reece-Mogg also heavily tipped amongst a group of over a dozen possible candidates .
It is Johnson in particular who poses the most concern. For many years his buffoonery and waffle has somehow not prevented him from landing rolls such as Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary. He encapsulates everything disturbing about a cold right wing politician and it should be deeply concerning that he is the current favourite to replace May.
The new PM, whoever it may be, will be in place with their cabinet by July. They will be under no illusion of the size of the task ahead of them in terms of Brexit and general running of the country. British politics is in its worst state for many years and unfortunately a new Conservative PM is not what is needed.
A yougov poll yesterday showed that the majority of UK citizens would want the new PM to call a general election, but anyone hoping to remove the Tory’s completely would be disappointed. Labour are in no position to get voted into power and despite positive local election results, the Lib Dem’s and Green Party are still far behind in the polls.
In this sense, Mays resignation could follow a similar path to that of her predecessor David Cameron in 2016. She resigns, the new person comes in, calls a snap election, wins and secures their position by at least having been voted on for it. However this time round it can be argued that Labour won’t have the successes it did two years ago.
Theresa Mays has left a Conservative party in pieces and a country which is failing to look out for those most in need. She said she gave Brexit her best effort, but it is other issues which she has failed to address which will result in her being one of the most disappointing Prime. Ministers in modern history.
