I like to think I have the qualities of Lady Thatcher
Andrea Leadsom, riding high in polls to be next prime minister, reveals she is inspired by the Iron Lady and by her own religion
‘Ialways retreat to cooking the Sunday roast.” Andrea Leadsom, who could be Britain’s next prime minister, is nothing if not practical. In times of strife – and it’s impossible not to see the current convulsions in British politics as such – she finds comfort in the familiar routines of family life.
“When in doubt, cook a Sunday roast, get the family around you and you’ll feel fine afterwards,” she says. “If my boys are there, it’s beef and Yorkshire pudding. If it’s me and my daughter and husband, it’s more likely to be chicken, but when she was younger my daughter used to say her favourite vegetable was crackling.”
Family, Mrs Leadsom says, is the most important thing to her. She has three children, and clearly life at home is “happy and relaxed”. All this could soon come under strain.
The 53-year-old is rapidly emerging as the main challenger to Theresa May for the leadership of the Conservative Party – and of the country.
In her first Sunday newspaper interview since entering the race to succeed David Cameron, the energy minister describes the central role her Christian faith plays in her politics; discusses her plan for a fast-track timetable to take Britain out of Europe as early as next year; and vows she will not pull out of the contest to allow Theresa May to be crowned leader unopposed.
When Mrs Leadsom became an MP in 2010, after a 30-year career in the City, she set out to win support for radically reforming Britain’s relationship with the EU, co-founding the Fresh Start group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs.
She played a critical role in leading the Vote Leave campaign, earning plaudits for her calm and positive appearances in televised debates alongside Boris Johnson and Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP. Mrs Leadsom now believes it must fall to a Leave campaigner to head the Government. But if she had backed Boris Johnson publicly, surely he would not have pulled out of the contest last week?
“I did and do back Boris,” she replies. “He’s a really lovely man. I am surprised and sad that he didn’t stand. But in the end I decided to stand myself because I thought we needed more choice for people about who they want to lead this country.” Her team estimates that more than 50 MPs are now backing her, putting her in second place to Mrs May, who has nearly 100 backers.
Once MPs have whittled down the five candidates to two, the party’s 150,000 members will choose who becomes the next leader and prime minister in a postal ballot, with the winner announced on Sept 9.
But the Home Secretary’s team are calling on her rivals – Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb and Mrs Leadsom – to be ready to pull out if Mrs May has an overwhelming lead in the ballot of MPs next week. This would allow a “coronation” of Mrs May, providing stability instead of two months of uncertainty, they say.
Mrs Leadsom is having none of it. “I think absolutely the membership deserve a say,” she says. “I don’t think we can simply have a coronation.
“The Prime Minister resigned because he didn’t back leaving, so it would be odd to just appoint somebody who also didn’t believe in it. I just don’t think that would be right.”
She believes the final two candidates must include at least one Leave supporter to guarantee the Government honours its pledge to pull Britain out of the EU. “If I was prime minister, there would be absolutely zero risk that Brexit wouldn’t happen.” In fact, her team is drawing up a fast-track timetable under which Britain would exit the EU as early as next spring.
“I am looking at exactly how that could work right now,” she says. “There is no doubt that for certainty and to get the most of the opportunity that we have, we need to get on with it.”
If she succeeds, Mrs Leadsom will be the first female PM since Margaret Thatcher, and only the second woman ever to hold the highest office.
Baroness Thatcher, she says, embodied “real leadership.” She had the “ideal” qualities of toughness and “personal warmth”. While she is not a “reincarnation”, she is happy to be compared to the Iron Lady. “As a person, she was always kind and courteous, and as a leader she was steely and determined. I think that’s an ideal combination – and I do like to think that’s where I am,” she says. “I met her a few times. I was always in awe of her and I don’t think people should be in awe of me. I’m just a normal person.
“My real passion is social justice, resolving the lack of empowerment, the lack of skills, the fact that young people can’t get on the housing ladder, they feel they can’t get a decent job, they feel they aren’t in control of their lives.”
With Mrs May enjoying strong support and Mr Gove struggling to win over colleagues after his “betrayal” of Mr Johnson, there is a growing chance the final two candidates will be women. “It would be great for young women. There is still a sense in our society, a holding back of girls and young women, and I don’t think there should be. To give young women the confidence to think ‘I can do this’ – as Margaret Thatcher did to me – is great.”
Faith is also central to Mrs Leadsom’s life – and her politics. Here, she differs from Mr Cameron, who once compared his faith to the reception of Magic FM in the Chilterns – “It comes and goes”.
Mrs Leadsom says: “I am a very committed Christian. I think my values and everything I do is driven by that. It’s very important to me. I actually study the Bible in Parliament with a group of colleagues, and I do go to church but I am not a regular. There’s the cross-party Christians in Parliament group and there are various Bible studies groups, which I find incredibly helpful.”
Does she pray often? “I do pray a lot – all the time – mostly for support and doing the right thing. That’s what I really want – to be seen as principled and honourable and not the opposite; to do the right thing.” What about her chil-
dren if she wins? Is she concerned about the intense media scrutiny on her two sons, aged 20 and 18, and her 12-year-old daughter?
“I am very worried about it,” she says. “It was a very finely balanced decision and we had a long conversation before I decided to put in my nomination papers. But we are all as a family really patriotic and keen to contribute. We decided we are at a place where we can cope. We will see if that’s true.”
Would she give up if it all became too difficult? “Absolutely not. You can’t just walk away.”