With David Cameron set to resign Wednesday and Home Secretary Theresa May set to take his place, here are five things to know about the politician slated to be Britain's next prime minister.
1. May, 59, held the position of home secretary for six years, considered one of the toughest files in British politics. In her role, she has pursued several policies, including police reforms, combating Islamic extremism, and restrictions on immigration.
2. While she campaigned for the "remain" side ahead of the referendum vote, May says she will respect voters' wishes and will create a new department devoted to handling the exit negotiations with the EU. May has said she will wait until next year to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty (the process required to start the exit process). However, she may face pressure to accelerate the plan.
3. May was first elected to the British Parliament in 1997, as an MP for Maidenhead in Berkshire. She has held several posts in the Conservative Party, including Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. She says she got her start in politics at a young age, stuffing envelopes for her local Conservative Association.
The Guardian newspaper has described her as an “unapologetic feminist.” She co-founded the Women2Win organization in 2005, which aims to increase the number of Conservative women in the British Parliament.
4. She became one of the first high-profile Conservative MPs to pledge personal support for same-sex marriage. In 2012, she even recorded a video for the Out4Marriage Campaign.
5. May was born in Eastbourne, Sussex. Her parents, Hubert Brasier and Zaidee Mary, died a few months apart in the 1980s.
She met her husband, banker Philip John May, at Oxford. They married in 1980 and have no children.
