Jayne Dowle: Inept men catapulted Theresa May to power

There was no way this girl could ever imagine Great Britain having a female Prime Minister again.

And now we have got one. Not on the wave of some huge feminist resurgence, but through the one unaccountable thing which no Prime Minister can ever fully prepare for. In the words of Harold Macmillan, the victory of Theresa May all came down to “events, dear boy, events.” Who could have predicted that all those years of campaigning to increase the number of female MPs, all that hand-wringing over Cabinet quotas and representation, would have ended like this? With a woman catapulted to the highest office in the land through the ineptitude of men?

And how ironic that the boys’ club which has dominated Westminster for decades should be brought down through its own deviousness. As Theresa May gets on with business at Number 10 today she does so on a wave of moral righteousness. Her election to office might be raising all kinds of questions over the democratic process, but her presence in Downing Street promises a new way of doing things.

What then will she bring, not just to the party, but to the whole country? This is a difficult judgement to call at such an early stage. We’ve never had a Prime Minister like this before. We would do well to remember this when the inevitable comparisons to Thatcher crop up. Mrs T was elected to power on a huge wave of popular support; Mrs May has come in through the back door, a compromise candidate with a tricky mandate. There will be no showboating and brandishing of handbags for her, she’s here to do a job that no-one else was capable of.

And I’d say it’s a job that she can make her own. Who writes the spec for the role of Prime Minister anyway? Every individual who holds this office brings their own experience, skills and attitude to the Cabinet table. And it has to be said, in recent years those who have achieved this high office have hardly set a precedent any successor would wish to emulate.

When it comes to the qualities required to lead the country though, Mrs May, the daughter of a vicar, certainly has the dignity and the gravitas. Anyone who heard her speech to the House of Commons in the aftermath of the Hillsborough enquiry will be convinced of that. I’d wager that it was this which helped to convince some of her Parliamentary colleagues that she had the potential to be leader some day.

At that point, just a few months ago, no-one ever anticipated that “some day” would come so soon. The circumstances which engulfed the Conservative Party leadership election have brought out the best in Mrs May. In a murky field, the member for Maidenhead emerged above the duplicity as the candidate who could be most trusted. And she accepted her success with magnanimity, to such an extent that she is reported to be considering appointing her opponent, Andrea Leadsom, to a senior role.

She is clearly committed to promoting able women in general, which is where any lingering comparisons to Margaret Thatcher should end. It is early days yet, but I hope that her tenure in charge will go down in history as the quiet revolution; a time when women were given senior ministerial roles because of their ability and suitability, not due to their sex or some spurious quota.

Mrs May’s long tenure as Home Secretary has helped to equip her with the skill and confidence to bring together warring factions with the minimum of fuss. And how she handles the next stage of Brexit will obviously bring this straight to the fore.

Indeed, aside from her penchant for statement shoes, her reputation in the Commons is for dogged hard work. She is also a former chairwoman of the Conservative Party; it is telling that when she took that job, in 2002, she stunned conference delegates by warning them that the Tories had become the “nasty party”. How true her words ring now.

However, if Mrs May really wants to prove her strength there is one thing she must do. As soon as is practicable, she should call a General Election. A woman who has campaigned so vigorously for fairness and equality must surely understand that it is wrong for anyone to hold the office of Prime Minister with only the backing of just 199 Conservative MPs. Her strong moral compass led her to Number 10. It must now guide her as she starts to navigate the choppy waters which swirl around not just her party, and not just the government, but Great Britain.