David Cameron stepped down from his role as prime minister of the United Kingdom on July 13, as he had announced after the Brexit vote.
In his resignation speech in front of 10 Downing Street, the traditional residence of the prime minster, Cameron called his tenure “the greatest honor” of his life. He will continue to serve in parliament as a representative of Witney.
Cameron is replaced by Theresa May, the second female prime minister in U.K. history and the 13th prime minister during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. May was formerly the home secretary, a position similar to the United States’ secretary of homeland security.
May, like Cameron, is a member of the Conservative Party, or Tory Party. It’s also been called “the nasty party” by none other than May herself, who urged her fellow Tories at a 2002 party conference to stop being so narrow in their sympathies.
May has now traveled to Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II has accepted her request to form a government. It's a process soaked in ritual and tradition — much like May's own faith background. Here are four faith-related facts about the newest prime minister of our cousin country across the pond:
1. May’s father was an Anglican clergyman.
Theresa May has drawn comparisons to Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel: All three are strong, conservative, female leaders in Europe with clergyman fathers. May’s father was an Anglican priest, whereas Thatcher’s was a Methodist lay preacher. May's high-church credentials came through in a radio interview when she was asked to select two songs to accompany the interview. She chose two hymns: “Therefore We Before Him Bending This Great Sacrament Revere” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
2. Her father and mother died within months of each other, a time she speaks about only rarely.
May’s father, the Rev. Hubert Brasier, was killed while driving to an evening church service. Not long after, her mother Zaidee died from multiple sclerosis, leaving the 25-year-old May an orphan. While May has not talked much about the difficulties of that time, she has said that her husband Philip, whom she met at Oxford at the introduction of future Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was “her rock.” A year before Brasier’s tragic death, he married Theresa and Philip at his parish church, St. Mary the Virgin in Wheatley in Oxfordshire.
3. May prefers to keep her faith private.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4, she said it’s better to not be overly vocal about faith in politics.
“It's right that we don't flaunt these things here in British politics,” she said. And while she has been described as a “moral conservative,” she has shown flexibility on issues like gay marriage.
Her policy on immigration has provoked criticism from evangelical Christian Tim Farron, a leader of the Liberal Democrats, who accused her of being “illiberal” and authoritarian, though she has also clashed repeatedly with the conservative Police Federation over corruption and stop-and-search policy.
4. Her religion is still important to who she is.
Even though she prefers not to “flaunt” her faith, May still says that Christianity “is part of me.” Growing up with a clergyman for a father has influenced her spiritual life quite deeply.
“It is part of who I am and therefore how I approach things,” she said.
"Early memories of a father who couldn't always be there when you wanted him to be, but he was around quite a lot of the time and other times when other parents weren't normally,” she said.
"I have one memory for example of being in the kitchen and looking up the path to the back door where a whole group, a family, that had come to complain about an issue in the Church and that's it, just knock on the door and expected to see the vicar."
The Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, gave his stamp of approval, saying that the U.K. was not “facing a pagan prime minister” in May, and that she has “profound Christian convictions.”
Coming on the heels of the Brexit vote, the U.K. faces trying times, and they will rely on their new prime minister at the helm. As historian Dr. Eliza Filby writes:
"In times of national anxiety, Britain tends to look to strong women to steer the ship through choppy waters. Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II and Thatcher all assumed power in challenging times."
May opposed the Leave campaign, but has promised to carry out the will of the people. She will also look to lead the Tories out of their “nasty party” reputation, and to unite a bitterly divided Britain.
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