Theresa May - Some Leadership Thoughts
It was on the second occasion when I met Theresa May that I knew she would become Prime Minister. I had listened to her speak at receptions and even once had a conversation with her on the tarmac at Milan Linate airport but it was on Thursday 22nd October 2015 that I knew it was a certainty.
The occasion was a Conservative dinner deep under Whitehall in Churchill’s Cabinet War Rooms, she was one of two guest speakers, the other was Dr David Starkey. He was in the middle of saying that “all politicians were either lazy or incompetent” when she boomed from the doorway (she was just arriving) “And which one am I David !”.
She gave a great speech, she worked the room, knew everyone’s name (around 100) and her husband, Philip was there too and was equally ‘on’. Her eyes had that twinkle of purpose.
A week before EU Election Day on the 23rd June 2016 I could see which way the wind was blowing and placed a very small bet on odds of 40-1 that she would be the next Prime Minister.
And so it came to pass.
On Friday, just under three years later, she announced her premiership would end in July. Quite simply the travails of securing an exit from the European Union was all too much and she ran out of runway.
It has become popular in the mainstream media and on her own parliamentary benches to malign her efforts to negotiate a deal which both delivered on the Brexit vote but in a way which preserved, as much as possible, the elements of EU membership during the transition phase which are essential to the United Kingdom’s prosperity and security.
But with no real working majority in the House of Commons and with a small but vociferous coterie of anti-EU MPs (many who had been equally problematic during the John Major government of 1992 - 1997 - I had seen first hand) leavened by others who simply saw Brexit as a way to gain the premiership themselves.
(We shall see in a month or so if the adage ‘he who wields the sword never wears the crown’ .)
Through all of this Theresa May has deployed enormous reserves of energy and patience - these last 12 months most conversations would always include the line “how does she do it”. Her days seemed to stretch beyond 24 hours and yet, there she was, in the middle of her constituency every weekend doing the things everyone would have excused her from.
But that’s not her style. Her sense of duty and commitment to public service have, and will be, her hallmarks.
When she stood for the leadership it was from those twin values that sprung her determination to make Brexit work. To square the circle and take a 52% / 48% referendum result and unite the country.
It wasn’t to be.
Too many people, some motivated by well founded beliefs and others through sheer mendacity undermined her effort.
Politics is the ultimate team game but a team where every member of it covets the captain’s role and thinks that they can do better. The Prime Minister’s effective inner circle was neither large enough or prepared enough to pull in the outliers and that probably resulted in a ‘bunker mentality’ which eventually became an obstacle to progress. There is a lesson in there for all of us - you have to take everyone with you.
But history, in my opinion, will judge her well. She has done all the ‘heavy lifting’ and tested every permutation of Brexit on the battlefield. When the Conservative leadership contest is over and the new Prime Minister takes over all of this could be like taking the lid off a marmalade jar, the first person did all the loosening.
On Friday when she announced her decision it was clear that she feels there is a lot of unfinished business beyond Brexit for her. There is and she’s the best person to take those battles on.
Something tells me that, unlike so many of her predecessors, she will not disappear from the scene to give pointless, well paid speeches around the world, but stay on the stage, albeit in a different role for quite some time to come.
Alfred Lord Tennyson said “It's better to have tried and failed than to live life wondering what would've happened if I had tried.” Theresa May tried with all her heart and a nation probably could not ask for much more than that.
About The Author
The author is a brand consultant and founder of Mission Critical, a highly focused and curated weekly briefing for time poor and information hungry decision makers. In a ‘previous life’ he served Conservative MPs from 1992 - 1995, worked as a Special Advisor for the Secretary of State for Scotland and stood, unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1997.
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Number 10 / Jay Allen
