Women Rule in Britain; Europe's Future with 'May' and 'Merkel'

In the continuation of unexpected, astonishing, and breath-taking political developments that began with the announcement of the results of the referendum on Britain's exit from the European Union, the withdrawal of Mrs. Andrea Leadsom, the Energy Minister, from the competition against Mrs. Theresa May, the Home Secretary, for the leadership of the Conservative Party on Monday, July 11, reduced the remaining term of Prime Minister David Cameron from two months to two days. After the announcement of the referendum results two weeks ago and the British people's vote for leaving the European Union, David Cameron, who is expected to be remembered in contemporary British history as one of the most popular, trustworthy, and successful prime ministers, announced that he would resign from the premiership. Some observers attribute the decision to hold the referendum on whether to remain in or leave the European Union to be the biggest miscalculation of the young prime minister, although his political decision, despite its significant historical consequences, was not seriously criticized domestically. After Cameron's resignation announcement, in order to provide sufficient time to outline the roadmap for Britain's exit from the EU on one hand, and on the other hand to comply with the regulations for appointing a successor to the Conservative Party leader, who will remain in power until the next election due to having a parliamentary majority, it was expected that the current prime minister (Cameron) would remain in office at least until mid-September. On Monday, Mrs. May traveled to Birmingham, England, to prepare for her campaign activities to reach the leadership of the Conservative Party; a position that quickly fell into her lap following the sudden resignation of Mrs. Leadsom along with the premiership. The reason for Mrs. Leadsom's resignation was media criticism of her after she emphasized that being a mother put her in a better position than Theresa May (who has no children) to assume the premiership. Women in British politics, although the ratio of female to male representatives in the British Parliament is one to two, the key roles of women in national and local parties and governments in Britain have increased significantly due to the developments of the past two weeks. Mrs. Theresa May is the second woman to become prime minister in Britain after Margaret Thatcher. Besides her seriousness at work, which has already earned her the title of Iron Lady (a nickname for Margaret Thatcher), the first two letters of the new prime minister's name (T-M) are also similar to the first two letters of the previous prime minister's name (M-T) when rearranged. Mrs. Leadsom, May's rival for the Conservative leadership, had previously outpaced three male candidates to make it to the final two nominees by securing more votes from party representatives in Parliament. In addition to the candidacy of two women for the premiership of Britain, in Scotland, Mrs. Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the nationalist party, is in the position of prime minister, and the leader of the minority Conservative Party, Mrs. Ruth Davidson, a 38-year-old former BBC journalist, is also in a significant role. Mrs. Davidson, unlike Ms. Sturgeon, is strongly opposed to Scotland's separation from Britain. The leadership of the Labour Party, the third largest party in Scotland, is also held by Mrs. Kezia Dugdale, which was considered the second largest party in Scotland before last year's elections. After Cameron's resignation announcement and the resignation of Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing party supporting Britain's exit from the EU, Jeremy Corbyn, the leftist leader of the Labour Party, came under intense pressure from party representatives in Parliament to resign. Labour representatives believe that with Corbyn in the leadership position, the Labour Party will not have a chance to defeat the Conservative Party in the next elections, hence they are vigorously pursuing plans to remove him and appoint a moderate leader in the shadow prime minister position. The figure who has expressed readiness to confront Corbyn and is likely to replace him is Mrs. Angela Eagle, who is a member of the shadow government in Britain. In Britain, to maintain continuity in government affairs, the minority party has a shadow cabinet, and in the event of a government transition from one party to another, members of the shadow government are appointed to key positions. Thus, with the acceleration of political changes in Britain, Mr. Cameron will leave the premiership after Wednesday's parliamentary session. After him, Mrs. May will go to another lady (the Queen) to confirm her premiership and will settle in Number 10 Downing Street in London that evening. Britain, Europe, and the world with three women. Although Mrs. May was in favor of remaining in the EU, her campaign slogan for succeeding Cameron was 'The meaning of Britain's exit from the EU is exit.' As Home Secretary, she attempted to limit the entry of immigrants. Regarding the 3 million citizens of EU member states currently living in Britain, Mrs. May has stated that retaining them after the exit from the EU is impractical, although she will use this issue in the future during negotiations to determine the conditions of the exit as a bargaining tool. Mrs. May's government faces two major issues in the main negotiations with the EU: 1- Continued access to the common market of 500 million Europeans 2- Ensuring freedom of movement for European citizens to Britain. To reach an agreement in this regard, Mrs. May's main counterpart is Mrs. Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, the largest economic power in the EU. Regarding security regulations and how to fulfill defense commitments, intelligence cooperation, and the form of Britain's membership in NATO, which is considered the military arm of the European community, Mrs. May will likely wait for the determination of the next occupant of the White House; a wait that conceptually means that if Mrs. Clinton wins the US elections, three women will be in leadership positions in a large part of the world.