It's official, Theresa May has been appointed the new prime minister of Britian at an audience with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
It will be a mid-week start for the Conservative leader as she takes over as the second female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
After six years in office, David Cameron resigned as British Prime Minister following the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
The outgoing PM formally offered his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II in a meeting at Buckingham Palace.
May is an alumna of Oxford University where she studied geography. Prior to becoming a member of parliament (MP), May worked at the Bank of England and went on to hold posts at the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) as Head of European Affairs Unit and Senior Adviser on International Affairs.
May married banker Philip May in 1980 after the two met at a Conservative Association dance party while May was studying at Oxford University.
She started out stuffing envelopes at her local Conservative Association before becoming a councillor in the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994.
From 1988 to 1990 she was the Chairman of Education; thereafter she became the Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokeswoman between 1992 and 1994.
Member of Parliament
May became an elected Member of Parliament for Maidenhead in May 1997 where she currently lives and is an active campaigner. Her campaigns include improving local train service, inclusion of a minor injuries unit at St. Marks Hospital and improvement of Maidenhead town center.
May quickly rose to prominence in the Conservative Party and has held several positions in Parliament since 1997. She was a member of the Shadow Cabinet from 1999 to 2010, including as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Shadow Secretary for State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
From 2002 to 2003 she became the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party.
Home Secretary
May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities in May 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of his first Cabinet. She became the longest serving Home Secretary of modern times.
In her role as Home Secretary, she led the government's work to free up the police to fight crime more effectively, secure the borders and reduce immigration. She also worked towards protecting the U.K. from terrorism.
Being one of the most senior female Cabinet members of the Conservative party, May worked towards Women's equality and adoption rights. She expressed support for the introduction of same-sex marriage by recording a video for the Out4Marriage campaign and became one of the first high-profile Conservative MP's to pledge support for same-sex marriage.
A 'Remain' campaigner, May has vowed to unite those divided by the EU referendum. While she supported the 'remain' campaign, May did not extensively campaign in the referendum.
In a speech after confirmation as the winner of the Conservative Party's leadership contest, May reiterated earlier comments that there would be no second referendum or backdoor attempts to join the European Union and pledged to set out economic plans to deal with the current instability.
"Brexit means Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it," May said.
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