Congratulations to Theresa May who has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative party “with immediate effect”.
I believe that we can expect that Ms. May will be the person who will steady the ship. She has an enormous and difficult task ahead of her as she inherits a very poor set of cards. Fortunately, she is not burdened by a massive ego.
She will develop her own style and aura as prime minister and be the kind of person who will acknowledge and stand up to the problems the nation is facing.
Theresa May is an intelligent woman who is known for taking her time to make up her mind. However, that time is not afforded her now as she needs to get on with her first task which is to appoint a new cabinet. It will be interesting to see what she does with those figures who have dominated Tory politics during the last 10 years, namely George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. Do they stay or do they go?
She has vowed to put herself and her party at the service of ordinary people in a “mission to make Britain a country that works for everyone”. She now needs to pull together the countries of the union so that they work together.
She has said that "Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it".
All eyes are now focussed on how she will proceed with leading Britain out of the current crisis and coordinate the Brexit. Expectations are high and serious politics are needed. Theresa May has the negotiation skills and experience to do this job and to do it well. She is used to dealing with Europe and the European leaders and she will provide fresh leadership to bring the UK in the right direction.
Britain's new prime minister is likely to set about establishing a strong new positive vision for the future of Britain and it is to be hoped that, as time passes, the populism and anti-European Union sentiment that now prevails among the British electorate will be replaced with a more rational understanding of what EU membership for Britain really entails.
Here, I expect her to take all the time she needs to carefully analyse her country’s current situation, what is best for Britain and what is best for the European Union…and then get on with it and do what is needed.
Ann O'Brien is executive director at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and member of the Managing Board of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), both in The Hague.