History of Theresa May

Born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex.

May attended the University of Oxford, read geography at St Hugh's College, and graduated with a second class BA degree in 1977.

In the 1992 general election May stood unsuccessfully for the safe Labour seat of North West Durham, placing second to incumbent MP Hilary Armstrong by 12,747 votes (27.6%) to 26,734 (57.8%), with future Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron placing third.

Ahead of the 1997 general election, May was selected as the Conservative candidate for Maidenhead, a new seat which was created from parts of the seats of Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. She was elected with 25,344 votes (49.8%), almost double the total of second-placed Andrew Terence Ketteringham of the Liberal Democrats, who took 13,363 votes (26.3%).

May was appointed the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party in July 2002.

On 6 May 2010, May was re-elected MP for Maidenhead with an increased majority of 16,769 – 60% of the vote. This followed an earlier failed attempt by the Liberal Democrats to unseat her in 2005, as one of that party's leading "decapitation-strategy" targets.

On 12 May 2010, when May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of his first Cabinet, she became the fourth woman to hold one of the British Great Offices of State, after Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister), Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary) and Jacqui Smith (Home Secretary).

On 30 June 2016, May announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party to replace David Cameron, who resigned following the outcome of the European Union membership referendum in which 52% of voters voted in favour of leaving the EU.

May was formally declared Leader of the Conservative Party that evening.

On 13 July 2016, two days after becoming Leader of the Conservative Party, May was appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II, becoming only the second female British Prime Minister after Margaret Thatcher.

On 15 January 2019, May's government was defeated in the House of Commons by a margin of 230 votes (202 in favour and 432 opposed) in a vote on her deal to leave the European Union. It was the largest majority against a United Kingdom government in history.

On 29 March, May was again defeated by 58 votes in the Commons (286 in favour and 344 against) on the withdrawal deal but not the political declaration. With 2 other Defeats in 14 Feb (258 to 303) and 12 March (242 to 391)

On 24 May she confirmed that she would resign as Conservative Party leader on 7 June.