[size=18pt]Theresa Mary May[/size]

Theresa Mary May (née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who has been the Home Secretary since 2010, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead since 1997. The Leader of the Conservative Party since 11 July 2016, May identifies as a One-Nation Conservative and has been characterised as a liberal conservative. May is to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016 after his formal resignation to the Queen, becoming the second female prime minister, following Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

Born in Eastbourne, Sussex, May studied geography at St Hugh's College, Oxford. From 1977 to 1983, May worked at the Bank of England, and from 1985 to 1997 at the Association for Payment Clearing Services, also serving as a councillor for the London Borough of Merton's Durnsford Ward. After unsuccessful attempts to get elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and 1994, she was elected MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election. May served in a number of roles in the Shadow Cabinets of William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard, and David Cameron, including Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. She also served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002-2003.

After the Conservative success in the 2010 election, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities in 2010, giving up the latter role in 2012. She became the longest-serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously, pursuing reform of the police, taking a harder line on drug policy and introducing restrictions on immigration.

In June 2016, May announced her candidacy for the Conservative party leadership election and quickly emerged as the front-runner. She won the first ballot on 5 July 2016 by a significant margin with 50% of the votes. On 7 July, May won the votes of 199 MPs, facing the vote of Conservative Party members in a contest with Andrea Leadsom. Leadsom's withdrawal from the contest on 11 July led to May being appointed party leader later that day. She is due to resume office as Prime Minister on 13 July.