Britain is on its way to getting its second female prime minister, after Tory members of parliament narrowed the race for leadership of the country’s ruling Conservative party.
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A second ballot of MPs saw Mrs May poll 199 votes and Mrs Leadsom 84 to knock out the third contender, Justice Secretary and MP for Surrey Heath Michael Gove.
The contest now moves to its final stage with the Conservative Party’s 150,000-strong membership deciding between Mrs May, a Remain campaigner with a long track record in government, and Mrs Leadsom, a leading light of the Brexit campaign who has stressed her City and business background.
Justice Secretary Mr Gove was eliminated from the contest after he only managed the support of 46 MPs. The current Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation triggered the leadership race after the European referendum vote was announced. As a leader who voted to remain in the European Union, she is closely being followed by keen competitor Leadsom, who voted to leave.
In a speech on Thursday, Leadsom said she would focus on “the continued success of the United Kingdom economy”, which has been hit hard by Brexit, raising fears of an increased budget deficit from lower growth and lower tax receipts.
May, an MP since 1997, has already said that no general election should take place before 2020, and she has been realistic about abandoning the target of eliminating Britain’s budget deficit before the end of the decade.
‘There are certain issues that will go down well with them that she has voted on, for example abstaining on gay marriage.
Grassroots Conservatives across Britain will now vote to decide whether Ms May or Ms Leadsom becomes Britain’s first woman prime minister since Mrs Margaret Thatcher was forced from office in 1990.
Following the Thursday’s vote he said Ms Leadsom is “well placed to win” the Conservative leadership and will “replace absurd gloom” with an “optimistic approach”.
Questions have been raised about Leadsom’s qualifications for the top job, and she did not address reports that she has exaggerated her experience in the financial sector before she entered the House of Commons in 2010.
May, 59, who supported staying in the European Union, emerged as the favorite for leader in the first round of voting Tuesday by the party’s lawmakers.
Speaking outside Parliament following the leadership vote, Theresa May has vowed to “make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us”.
Leadsom, 53, who also backed the “leave” campaign in the referendum, says the prime minister should be someone who truly believes in a British exit, or Brexit.
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We don’t yet know who the next Prime Minister of Britain will be, but we now know it will be a woman.
