TRAGIC THERESA
How Theresa May’s heartfelt sense of duty didn’t stop her being her own worst enemy
THERESA May entered office three years ago declaring "Brexit means Brexit".
But now she's been forced to quit before managing to take Britain out of the EU - the one task she set herself at the very beginning.
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Mrs May, 62, is admired across the political spectrum for her sense of duty and her dedication to the public good.
No one doubted her desire to do the right thing on Brexit and the "burning injustices" of British society.
But in the end she suffered the worst election campaign and the worst Commons revolt in history. And she's likely to be remembered as one of the worst Prime Ministers of recent decades.
And many of the qualities most admired in her - her stubborn nature, her refusal to play Westminster games - eventually proved her downfall.
Mrs May's life was scarred with tragedy at a young age as she lost both her parents within a short period in her 20s.
The double sadness brought her closer to husband Philip - who has always been by far her most important confidant.
From her time at Oxford, the future PM was known as fiercely ambitious and she has admitted she was aiming for No10 from the very start.
After a career in banking, Mrs May became MP for Maidenhead in 1997, serving on the frontbench under William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.
She rose to public fame in 2002, when as Tory chair, she admitted that many voters saw them as "the nasty party".
David Cameron made her his Home Secretary, a job she held for six years to widespread acclaim.
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Mrs May was known for staying out of the political horse race, unlike the master manipulator George Osborne.
She backed Remain ahead of the 2016 referendum - but spoke at barely any events, meaning she was never closely identified with the pro-EU cause.
That meant she was perfectly placed to swoop in after David Cameron's resignation, leaving rivals such as Boris Johnson and Michael Gove humiliated.
Mrs May vowed: "Brexit is Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it."
She sacked Mr Gove and Mr Osborne - telling the Chancellor he needed to get to know the party better.
The PM struck a tough line on Brexit, vowing to withdraw from the EU's single market and customs union and insisting: "No Deal is better than a bad deal."
She was hailed as the new "Iron Lady" as supporters welcomed her tough rhetoric towards Brussels.
Mrs May triggered Article 50 - the legal process taking Britain out of the EU - in March 2017. But when talks with the EU started it became clear she had never worked out a coherent position on how to leave, nor had she gathered a Commons majority for her Brexit vision.
And despite her No Deal rhetoric - which drove Remain voters away - Brussels never really believed she was willing to walk away from the talks.
Things were made even worse by the 2017 snap election, called when Mrs May had a 20-point lead in the polls.
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The campaign was laser-focused on her personality, so her wooden style alienated voters and in the end she lost her majority.
Things went from bad to worse over the next two years: Brexiteers were alienated by every fudge, while Remainers started campaigning ever more loudly for a second referendum. Rather than uniting both camps, it seemed neither group really trusted her.
And despite her warning to George Osborne, it emerged that Mrs May's refusal to get involved in the Westminster gossip circuit meant she was out of touch with her MPs and had little support base to fall back on.
More than 30 ministers ended up quitting the Government, more than under any previous PM in such a short time.
Mrs May finally agreed a Brexit deal with the EU in November last year. Although it always looked tricky, the Prime Minister put up a tough fight and in many ways grew in the eyes of the public.
But while some admired her resilience and dedication, others criticised her for refusing to contemplate any way forward other than pushing ahead with the withdrawal agreement.
The first "meaningful vote" was the worst defeat suffered by any Prime Minister in history, with more than 100 Tories rebelling against her.
For most of her own MPs, the last straw came when she agreed to delay Brexit following the third defeat of her deal in the Commons. They accused her of bowing to Remainers in the Cabinet who are desperate to block No Deal, and sucking up to Labour by opening talks with Jeremy Corbyn.
And this week dealt the final death knell to Mrs May's career. She wanted to give her deal a last push - but instead MPs made it clear she should go as soon as possible.
Her time in office was so consumed with Brexit that she wasn't able to push through much significant action in other areas.
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But despite that, she could never actually deliver Brexit.
Even Tory MPs now say that Mrs May will forever be remembered as one of the worst Prime Ministers ever.
A sense of duty was never enough to make up for her lack of vision - and failure to lead.
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Theresa May votes in the European elections
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