Outgoing British Prime Minister, Theresa May lashed back at critics who mocked her tears on the steps of Number 10, saying if a male prime minister wept, they would be hailed as being patriotic.
May was tearful as she announced in May that she would stand down when her successor – either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt – is chosen.
In her address, she described the job as “the honour of my life to hold – the second female prime minister but certainly not the last.” Mrs May said she was leaving with “enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.”
Speaking on the moment she crumbled saying those words on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Mrs May told the Mail: “If a male Prime Minister’s voice had broken up, it would have been said ‘what great patriotism, they really love their country’. But if a female Prime Minister does it, it is ‘why is she crying?’.”
May observed that being Prime Minister is not about power but about service to the public.
She considered her inability to deliver Brexit and her reaction to the Grenfell tower disaster as the low points of her time in Downing Street, and listed changes to unemployment levels, wage rises outstripping inflation and increased employment of women among her achievements.
Recall that Theresa May replaced David Cameron as the British Prime Minister after the Brexit referendum vote in 2016, becoming the second woman after Margaret Thatcher to hold the position.
She announced her decision to step down in May after failing to deliver Brexit.
