Theresa May: I will bring divided Tory Party to heel
The Home Secretary stormed into pole position in the race for No.10 yesterday after promising “Brexit means Brexit” and ruling out possibility of second EU referendum
THERESA MAY stormed into pole position in the race for No.10 yesterday after promising “Brexit means Brexit.”
The Home Secretary laid out a powerful pitch to be Britain’s next PM – detailing a four-point plan to take Britain out of the EU and promising to unite the country with ‘One Nation’ compassion.
In a bid to stop the squabbling tearing the Tories apart, the Remain campaigner wooed Brexit rivals by ruling out either a second EU Referendum or an early General Election.
She insisted she was totally committed to taking Britain out of the EU and tackling immigration – as any other idea would be “unacceptable” to the public.
And she pledged to form a stable, honest Government instead of using “showy gimmicks”.
Theresa May added that scrapping the Chancellor's goal of achieving a surplus by 2020, would help avoid "disruptive" tax hikes.
She said: "If before 2020 there is a choice between further spending cuts, more borrowing and tax rises, the priority must be to avoid tax increases.
"They would disrupt consumption, employment and investment.”
Last night her odds tumbled to 1-2 as big hitters flocked to her cause, including Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Commons Leader Chris Grayling, now her campaign manager.
Brexit means Brexit
Tory leadership hopeful, Theresa May
In a barnstorming speech, the vicar’s daughter famed for her kitten heels insisted her only motivation for the top job was “public service”, rather than ideology and ego.
In a dig at rivals Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, she said politics was not a “game” but “a serious business that has real consequences for people’s lives”.
She said: “If you are from an ordinary working class family, life is just much harder than many people in politics realise.
“You have a job but you don’t have job security, you have your own home but you worry about mortgage rates going up.
“Frankly not everybody in Westminster understands what it’s like to live like this.”
Insisting the country wanted “strong leadership” rather than gimmicks, she drew laughter by using her ‘boring’ lifestyle in a bid for votes.
“I don’t tour the TV studios, I don’t gossip over lunch, I don’t drink in Parliament’s bars, I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve, I just get on with the job in front of me.”
Theresa May
Speaking in the sober surroundings of the Royal United Services Institute’s Grand Library on Whitehall, she said: “I’m not a showy politician.
“I don’t tour the TV studios, I don’t gossip over lunch, I don’t drink in Parliament’s bars, I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve, I just get on with the job in front of me.”
The public want strong leadership not showy gimmicks
She added: “My pitch is very simple. My name is Theresa May and I think I’m the best person to be Prime Minister of this country”
But the Home Secretary also gave a glimpse of her fierce ambition in a lacerating put down on Boris.
Talking up her ability to negotiate with Brussels, she mocked the former Mayor of London’s attempt to put water cannons on the streets of London last year – a move she blocked.
She said: “I have sat round the table, I know what it’s like in those European meetings. I’ve not just done it, I’ve delivered on negotiations.
“I know other people who have also negotiated in Europe, I think Boris has negotiated in Europe. I seem to remember the last time he did a deal with the Germans he came back with three nearly-new water cannon.”
I seem to remember the last time he did a deal with the Germans he came back with three nearly-new water cannon
Theresa May on Boris Johnson's negotiating skills with Europe
The steely eyed Home Secretary was christened ‘Maggie May’ after a blistering speech at the Conservative Party Conference two years ago when she vowed to blow the Islamic terror threat off the face of the map.
At the time, she echoed Maggie Thatcher’s 1984 speech after the Brighton bombing by saying Britain had to confront “segregations and sectarianism” in all its forms.
Yesterday, she reeled off a list of achievements such as staring down the Police Federation and booting Abu Qatada out of the country to prove her credentials.
And she highlighted her reputation for taking tough decisions by lacing her leadership pitch with a string of policy announcements.
She insisted she would not call an emergency Budget in response to the Brexit vote. And she scrapped George Osborne’s commitment to balancing the books by 2020.
The Home Secretary added that she would not trigger Article 50 – starting the two year divorce process with the EU – until the negotiating strategy was agreed.
My pitch is very simple. My name is Theresa May and I think I’m the best person to be Prime Minister of this country
No ‘red lines’ for those talks will be revealed until they begin, she added.
As the Sun reported yesterday, she will set up a new ‘Brexit’ department within Government headed by a Cabinet-level Minister to oversee the departure.
She scrapped plans to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights.
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But she stood by her drive to bring net migration down to the “tens of thousands”. She said: “It’s where we want to aim for.”
Ms May said: “Following last week’s Referendum our country needs strong leadership to steer us through this period of economic and political uncertainty and to negotiate the best possible terms as we leave the EU.
“We need leadership that can unite our party and our country.”
“When she says she can do something, she delivers”
Commons Leader Chris Grayling
In a swipe at the chaos in Labour she added it was “nothing less than the patriotic duty of our party to unite and to govern in the best interests of the whole country.”
Aides said Mrs May picked the Royal United Services Institute’s Grand Library to emphasise her gravitas and seriousness as her biggest strength.
At the launch, Mrs May also unveiled Mr Grayling as her first big Cabinet beast supporter. As a prominent Leave campaigner, Mr Grayling’s support helps Mrs May burnish her credibility with that side of the party.
Mr Grayling told the crowded room of MP supporters and journalists: “When she says she can do something, she delivers”.
Also present was Falklands hero Simon Weston, who got to know Mrs May when he considered running as a Police and Crime Commissioner.
Badly burned former Welsh Guardsman Mr Weston told The Sun: “We need someone with steel as well as compassion, and that’s her.
“I really think she’s the best person to lead this country”.
We live in uncertain times and a firm, steady leader is what we need
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin
Writing in today’s Sun, Mr McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary and Chief Whip endorses her by saying the Home Secretary has the ‘it’ factor that “running the country demands”.
He writes: “Theresa May has inspired my unwavering respect.
“We live in uncertain times and a firm, steady leader is what we need.”
Friends of Theresa May have always talked down talk of her designs on No.10.
Her first claim to fame was branding the Conservatives the “Nasty Party” as chairman in 2002 and demanding it change.
But the Cabinet Minister has featured among the favourites in every list since David Cameron announced he was standing down.
A poll of Conservative Party members on Wednesday claimed she was 17 points ahead of Boris Johnson.
The YouGov survey put her on 55 per cent with Boris next at 38 per cent.
Quizzed yesterday on whether she was Britain’s answer to Germany’s Angela Merkel, the leadership hopeful insisted she has never compared herself to other politicians: “I just do my own thing.”
In a Westminster reeling from Boris’ resignation yesterday, Tory backbenchers talked up the Home Secretary’s experience.
Fellow MP, Heidi Allen, explained she was backing Theresa May over her other choice Stephen Crabb as “we need more than a person for Britain, we need a person for the world.
“And Theresa has bags more experience.”
She added: “We need to bring the country back together again and I don’t think anybody who was vocal on either the Leave or Remain camps during the campaign can do that.”
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
THE five Tories battling it out to replace David Cameron face a weekend of campaigning to win the support of MPs before the first round of voting next Tuesday.
The first ballot of Tory MPs will whittle the field down to four.
A second vote next Thursday will take the candidates down to three before the final pair are selected on Tuesday, July 13.
Once they are chosen, the last two hold a series of hustings around the country. The final decision is made via a one member, one vote postal ballot.
The winner — and Britain’s next PM — will be announced on Friday, September 9.
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