Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
She was never leader to land prize & heal us
THE Tories thought they had a winner when they chose Theresa May to succeed runaway David Cameron.
Another woman but a softer, more attractive leader – Thatcherism with a human face. Home Secretary five years and seasoned in political persuasion. Just the lass to win the prize.
How wrong they were. She was never the healing figure who could take the country out of the EU after a deeply divisive referendum.
Despite promising to fight injustice, the empathy is never there. She lacks warmth and even the small talk vital to political discourse. The image-makers tried but it was for the cameras.
At home, her haughty school-ma’am style plays well with Tory backbenches but it bombs outside Westminster.
Nor did it work in Brussels, where Mrs May was seen as a loser, who threw away her majority in an unnecessary general election. She was never seen as the leader who could negotiate a deal and then sell it to her own people.
Mrs May faces a no-confidence vote, winnable only with the help of Tories who have no confidence in her but fear losing an election to Jeremy Corbyn.
MPS across the House will do her a favour by giving her brief premiership a swift, clear-cut ending – unlike the Brexit she imagined she could deliver.
The nation can then search for a leader who can bind up the wounds.