“JUST TELL HER PHIL,” the Metro boomed this morning, hours before Theresa May announced she will be stepping down as Prime Minister on June 7. It was a rallying cry – a plea with May’s husband, Philip, to “step in” apparently at the request of senior Conservative ministers, to force the PM to resign.
Unsurprisingly, it hasn’t exactly elicited a positive response. “1928 called,” one punter said of the headline, “they want their printing press back.” Another remarked that it was a “great way to alienate half the people who read your paper”. “Marie-Benedicte, the wife of Metro Editor Ted Young should JUST TELL HIM to cut his Victorian era sexist thinking,” one reader quipped.
Their annoyance is enormously justified. While May has openly said that Philip is the closest person to her, and though the story claims to be a reaction to “top Tories” who last night were “turning to the only person they believe can persuade Theresa May it’s time to go”, its connotations run far deeper – something that even those opposed to May’s politics and policy, who have been more than unimpressed by her tenure – can agree.
Because it’s not just about May, though she too, irrespective of her numerous, significant faults, deserves very basic respect and autonomy. This is also about women in politics, and how we respond to female power. Badly, by this example. It may as well read “Phil, control your woman!”. Reading it this morning I half expected to see Harry Enfield peeking over Philip’s shoulder in the accompanying snap of the couple, harking “Women! Know your limits!”
It’s tiresome, isn’t it, because we wouldn’t be having this discussion if our current PM was a man. A headline like that would never be published for a man in power – we would have never seen “TELL HIM, SAM CAM”, or “TELL HIM, CHERIE” – and, if it was, it wouldn’t pack the same punch. This editorial decision was deemed clever, or funny, or both, by editors because it plays into a narrative from days gone by when women were something to be procured and displayed, when we were little more than pretty sidekicks for the men taking care of business and of us.
It’s not by accident that a tabloid paper wanted to belittle her with cheap condescension. But when it comes to May, there is plenty of fodder – the people she has failed and mistakes and heinous decisions she has made – it's in abundance, in fact. That’s she’s a woman is the least interesting or pernicious thing about her. Try harder, Metro.
Read More: Theresa May's defining political moments
Theresa May's defining moments as Prime Minister - Grazia
1 of 13When she decided to hold a snap election
After a somewhat dubious battle for leadership following David Cameron's resignation, May attempted to stabilise her position as leader and gain a greater majority in the House of Commons by holding an early general election. Convinced the Tories would win after enjoying a double-digit lead in the polls, she risked it all in the hopes of uniting Westminster in her favour. Unfortunately for her, the Conservatives ran a poor campaign while Labour flourished with new voters, and she lost her Westminster majority altogether.
2 of 13When she ran through fields of wheat
Just before the election result was announced in 2017, Theresa May revealed the 'naughtiest' thing she ever did growing up. Did she sneak into clubs with a fake ID or smuggle vodka into a sleepover? Nope, she ran 'through fields of wheat' and upset some farmers in the process. The viral quote received the ultimate meme treatment and was even remixed into a (genuinely decent) house track.
3 of 13When she made a pact with the DUP
Without her Commons majority, Theresa May chose to create entirely unholy alliance with the DUP (whom had 10 MPs in the Commons) so she could keep the Conservatives in government. In return for their support on key votes, she promised them an extra £1bn for Northern Ireland. But of course, if you make a deal with the (pro-life, anti-LGBT and pro-death penalty) Devil, you're bound to get burned, and they have since turned their back on her by opposing her Brexit deal – the most important vote she needed to win.
4 of 13When she was handed a P45 at her first party conference
Her first address to the world as a strong and stable leader was, in a foreshadowing we never could have imagined, chaotic. Not only did she cough through the entire address, so much so that Phillip Hammond handed her a cough sweet, but she was also handed a P45 from a prankster who claimed it was from Boris Johnson. Just as you thought it couldn't get any more dramatic, the slogan 'Building a Country that Works for Everyone' that hung behind her on the wall began to fall down. We really should've seen the next two years coming then and there, to be honest.
5 of 13When she became the Maybot
In another viral meme moment for Theresa May, the former Prime Minister took to the dancefloor while on a trade mission in Cape Town, South Africa. Dancing with a group of school children on the first day of her trip, her moves were quickly posted online and swept the nation. Her robotic, wooden movements put her at the mercy of tons of online commentary, a fire that was fuelled just days later when she danced again with a group of scouts in Nairobi, Kenya. Embracing her trolling online, she joked that the Strictly Come Dancing stars should 'get in touch' for tips and even danced on stage to Abba at her second party conference in 2018.
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6 of 13When she opposed the Human Rights Act
It might have been before she became Prime Minister, but it was certainly a focal point of her appointment. After years of declaring she wanted to scrap the European Human Rights Act – you know, the one that protects our fundamental rights and freedoms and enables democracy – because she believes it makes it more difficult to deport criminals, she u-turned. Considerable Tory backlash to her stance forced her to promise she was 'not going to pursue' her efforts to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights when she announced her bid to become Prime Minister. While it may have been the U-turn we all wanted, it became one of many that throughout the course of her leadership.
7 of 13When she suddenly decided innocent-until-proven-guilty was not a thing
She may fundamentally oppose the protection of our liberties from the European Human Rights Act, but she fully supports another EU endeavour: the one that means suspected criminals can be extradited to any EU country without any evidence. The controversial European Arrest Warrant allows for suspects to be sent to the country a supposed crime was committed with little to no proof they committed the crime.
8 of 13When she survived two no-confidence vote
While she toured the EU on a mission to salvage her crumbling deal, her peers were conspiring to remove her as leader. MPs had been sending letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady for days prior, and after at least 48 joined in she faced a no confidence vote. She won a comfortable majority of 83, but faced another no confidence vote the next month tabled by Jeremy Corbyn who was hoping to trigger a general election. After his motion was defeated by 325 votes to 306, May was once again secure in her leadership. Until this fateful day just five months later.
9 of 13When she awkwardly held hands with Donald Trump
On his highly controversial UK visit back in 2018, Trump was met not only by a giant Trump Baby blimp but a very welcoming Theresay May. The two were pictured holding hands on multiple occasions during the trip as they approached the press, with many questioning her closeness to such a divisive leader. She told reporters that she was helping him up and down stairs on every occasion.
10 of 13When her immigration policy punished members of the Windrush generation
… And she refused to back down. The controversial hostile environment policy, according to May, was meant to identify people living in Britain illegally – but members of the Windrush generation were wrongly entangled with devastating consequences. Commonwealth nationals living in the UK before 1973 were automatically granted citizenship without requiring a certificate or other paperwork – but thousands were left unable to prove their eligibility in later years, causing them to be denied public services and, in some cases, to be deported. Diane Abbott said that May's refusal to properly apologise for the policy had "exposed a moral failure at the heart of this rotten government. Lives have been destroyed," she said. "Theresa May should hang her head in shame."
11 of 13When she became a meme
Shoulders up, head thrown back and shaking with laughter, Theresa May couldn't contain herself during PMQs ahead of the 2017 Budget – and, naturally, her joy was immortalised into a meme mere seconds later. But what was the joke? When Jeremy Corbyn accused May of being "unclear" about whether a deal was done with Surrey Council over its cancelled tax referendum, he added: "Did she actually know what arrangement was made with Surrey County Council?" Yeah, that's it.
12 of 13When she wore some leather trousers and started a political row
Before May won the Conservative leadership election she was already making controversial headlines. And it was her choice of breeches that caused a huge stir in 2016, following an interview with the Sunday Times. The leather trousers – in "bitter chocolate", from Amanda Wakeley and allegedly costing £995 – became the centre of a row that rolled on for more than two weeks, and even saw May's invitation to a meeting about Brexit revoked, according to some reports. Former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan told The Times that the trousers had been "noticed and discussed" in Tory circles, adding,"I don't have leather trousers. I don't think I've ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress." Morgan was sacked by May when she took up office in No. 10. Bitter indeed.
13 of 13When she failed to meet survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire on her visit to the site
May faced justified, heavy criticism for her failure to speak to any survivors or local people when visiting the site of the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people in June 2017. She later admitted that her initial response was not good enough and said that she would "always regret" not speaking to the people affected by the tragedy. "It was a tragedy unparalleled in recent history and, although many people did incredible work during and after the fire it has long been clear that the initial response was not good enough," May wrote in the Evening Standard. "I include myself in that. While she met with firefighters and those in charge of the site following the fire, what she "did not do on that first visit," she continued, "was meet the residents and survivors who had escaped the blaze. But the residents of Grenfell Tower needed to know that those in power recognised and understood their despair. And I will always regreat that by not meeting them that day – it seemed as though I didn't care."