Statecraft Policies and Politics under Prime Minister Theresa May

This book examines the statecraft of former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May as a means of deconstructing her leadership of the United Kingdom. Alongside the inescapable issue of Brexit that dominated her Premiership, it takes a wider view of her record in government by looking at how and why she stood for the leadership of the Conservative Party; scrutinizes her approach to economic, social, and foreign policy; interrogates her attitudes towards Northern Ireland and the DUP; and her longstanding records on race relations, LGBT+ issues, and feminism, as well as more traditional concerns such as faith, constitution, and Britishness. This volume is the first of its kind to adopt such a systematic approach in its evaluation of May’s leadership.

Introduction: The May Premiership.-Part I: Electoral Issues. Chapter 1.The Conservative Leadership Election of 2016.Chapter 2. I’m Not Going to Call a Snap Election’ – Theresa May and the 2017 General Election.- Chapter 3. Attempting to Secure a Sympathetic Press: May and the Media.- Part II: Policy Implementation. Chapter 4. Miscalculations and Constraints: Brexit and the Failed Statecraft of Theresa May.- Chapter 5. Foreign Policy.- Chapter 6.‘An Economy That Works for Everyone’? An Evaluation of The May Government’s             Economic Policies and Statecraft.- Chapter 7. Theresa May and Mental Health Policy: A Legacy Unfinished?.- Chapter 8. Theresa May, Statecraft, and the Environment.- Chapter 9. Friends and Allies? Theresa May and the DUP.- Chapter 10.         Race Relations Policy.- Part III: Political Debates. Chapter 11. Theresa May’s mode of Conservatism: ‘soft’ One Nation Toryism.- Chapter 12. From Workers on Company Boards to Representatives of ‘Workers Voices’: Explaining May’s Failed ‘One Nation’ Industrial Policy.- Chapter 13. Theresa May as a Political Leader.- Chapter 14. Women political leaders are all feminists, aren’t they? Theresa May and Feminism.- Chapter 15. Theresa May and LGBT Equality.- Chapter 16. Theresa May and Religion – The Vicar’s Daughter in Downing Street.- Chapter 17. Theresa May and the Constitution: A Failure of Statecraft.- Chapter 18. Theresa May and Britishness: Towards a Psychological Dimension of Statecraft.- Chapter 19.     Theresa May’s Team: Statecraft and the Cabinet.- Conclusion: Statecraft, Policies, and Politics of Prime Minister Theresa May.

Andrew S. Roe-Crines is Senior lecturer in British Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool, UK, and the author of several academic journal articles on political rhetoric/oratory, alongside his most recent books Corbynism in Perspective: The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn (2021) and (with P. Dorey & A. Denham) Choosing Party Leaders: Conservative and Labour Party Compared (2020). 

David Jeffery is Senior Lecturer in British Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool, UK, and is the co-editor (with S. Farrall and A. Mullen) of Thatcherism in the 21st Century: The Social and Cultural Legacy (Palgrave, 2020). He is the author of Whatever Happened to Tory Liverpool? (2023), as well as the author of several journal articles in leading academic journals.