Theresa May’s political career as the former prime minister stands down – from dancing queen to Brexit woes

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Former prime minister Theresa May has introduced that she is going to step down as an MP in the subsequent common election, ending her 27-12 months stint in parliament.

Her resignation marks the finish of a outstanding but controversial career as a protracted-serving Conservative MP and the second ever feminine prime minister, overseeing makes an attempt to detach the UK from the EU.

In a press release to an area newspaper in her Maidenhead constituency, Ms May stated it had been “an honour and a privilege” to serve.

She added: “Being an MP is about service to one’s constituents and I have always done my best to ensure that I respond to the needs of local people and the local area.”

Here is a timeline of Ms May’s career:

–       1997: Ms May was elected with an nearly 12,000 seat majority as the MP for Maidenhead, having beforehand served as a councillor in Merton. Prior to this she labored as a monetary advisor and adviser at the Association for Payment Clearing Services.

–       1999: She rapidly begins her career in the shadow cupboard after she was appointed shadow schooling and employment Secretary.

–       2002: She turned the first feminine chairman of the Conservative celebration and units the tone as a liberal in her celebration, a stance which doesn’t final in her subsequent job. In her speech at the celebration’s annual convention, Ms May condemned unnamed colleagues who had made “political capital out of demonising minorities” and referred to as on her friends to rally behind their then chief, Sir Iain Duncan-Smith.

–       2005: The Tory chief David Cameron moved Ms May to a brand new function as shadow chief of the home of commons earlier than later appointing her shadow minister for girls and equality in 2007, and work and pensions secretary in 2009.

–       2010: As the Conservatives and Lib Dems got here collectively to type the coalition authorities, Ms May is appointed house secretary, making her the fourth girl to maintain one in all the British Great Offices of State, which incorporates the prime minister, chancellor of the exchequer, and overseas secretary. Ms May held this place for over six years, with a controversial and chequered tenure.

During her time as house secretary, she adopted a mixture of exhausting-line regulation and order and liberal insurance policies. She pursued the reform of the police federation and scaled again the use of cease and search below issues that it was counter-productive and racially divisive.

But Ms May additionally carried out harsher drug insurance policies and famously launched the Immigration Act want was designed to “create a hostile environment” for unlawful migrants.

–       2013: In her function as house secretary, Ms May oversaw an promoting marketing campaign directed at unlawful migrants which noticed lorries driving round communities with indicators that stated “go home or face arrest”. Despite her assertion that she was a liberal, ‘one-nation’ tory, the coverage was extensively regarded as excessive and hostile to immigrants. The shadow house secretary Yvette Cooper described the language as being paying homage to that utilized by the National Front in the Nineteen Seventies.

–       2016: Ms May introduced that she would run for chief of the Conservative celebration in a bid to succeed David Cameron who resigned after he misplaced the EU referendum. Ms May fought off her rivals and took up function as prime minister in 2016.

Her first few months have been outlined by diplomacy. Following the UK’s choice to depart the EU, Ms May commenced talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and stated she wouldn’t set off Article 50 – the course of for withdrawing from the EU – earlier than negotiating a “sensible and orderly” departure with the union.

–       2017: In April Ms May made the misguided transfer of calling an early common election – a transfer that proved to be the starting of the finish of her management. The choice left her celebration in a worse place than beforehand held, having misplaced 23 seats. The ensuing hung parliament pressured Ms May to dealer a take care of the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland – which turned a key sticking level throughout Brexit negotiations due to contentions the Northern Ireland border.

–       2018: In March the Windrush scandal exploded after it was revealed {that a} technology of Afro-Carribean Britons had been illegally deported or threatened with deportation by the Home Office. Ms May’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd was pressured to resign.

The former prime minister’s second time period in workplace was outlined by political instability and infighting. Parliament was in impasse following Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Late in the 12 months, Ms May gave a speech at Conservative celebration convention the place she took the stage whereas dancing to “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. Some political commentators applauded her willingness to giggle at herself, while others deemed the footage cringe-worthy. Downing Street insisted the strikes have been “spontaneous”.

The then prime minister was usually criticised for coming throughout as awkward in interviews and public appearances, main to her being nicknamed “The Maybot”.

Later in the 12 months, Ms May’s authorities was discovered to be in contempt of Parliament after it failed to present MPs with authorized recommendation on the proposed EU withdrawal settlement.

After stress from Ms May’s backbenchers to undertake a tough brexit, she confronted a vote of no confidence in her management by her celebration in late December. She survived the vote, however her authority was badly broken.

–       2019: Ms May’s proposed Brexit deal was defeated in the commons, main to a movement of no confidence in the Commons. Again, Ms May survived however solely by 19 votes.

After her deal was defeated in the Commons for the third time, the prime minister took to the steps of Downing Street to announce that she was resigning as chief in May 2019.

The second-ever feminine prime minister was succeeded by Boris Johnson, who pressured by means of a tough brexit deal. Upon leaving the function, Theresa May took to the backbenches and has since devoted her time to her constituency of Maidenhead and work on trendy slavery and human trafficking.

The former PM has by no means spared a possibility to snipe at her replacements. She criticised Mr Johnson for chopping abroad spending, telling the commons that the choice makes it “far harder for us as a country to argue for the change that we want internationally”.

She additionally criticised the former prime minister for his function in partygate. On the publication of the Sue Gray report into Mr Johnson’s information of rule-breaking in No.10, Ms May stated the public “had a right to expect their prime minister to have read the rules, understand the meaning of the rules and to set an example by following those rules.”

She requested Mr Johnson: “So either my right honorable friend had not read the rules, did not understand what they meant and nor did others around him, or they didn’t think the rules applied to No. 10. Which was it?”

The former prime minister additionally made headlines when she cropped Mr Johnson’s successor Liz Truss from a photograph of former prime ministers commemorating Remembrance Day. Some accused Ms May of participating in a deliberate slight towards Ms Truss after her mini-price range crashed the pound, leading to her leaving workplace after simply 44 days.

Unlike her successors, she frequently attends PMQs and debates in the commons.

–       2024: Ms May introduced her resignation to the Maidenhead Advertiser, saying it was an “honour and a privilege” to serve the constituency of Maidenhead.

She added that she stays dedicated to “supporting Rishi Sunak” and believes that the Conservatives can “win the election”.