To feel sorry for Theresa May

[thinkiamgoingcrazy]

I think she has been an awful PM: evasive / divisive / arrogant / authoritarian / sneering / dog whistling.

I am glad that she no longer has a majority, hopefully allowing more voice to the many and diverse opinions in the oppositions as well as in the moderate wing of the Tory party.

I am also glad that we are apparently going back to government by cabinet meeting rather than by advisers (probable overstatement I know).

And yet I feel sorry for her . Now a puppet at the mercy of her ruthless party.

She reminds me of Glenn Close at the end of Dangerous Liaisons.

I think if she just resigned (which would seem the obvious thing to do after such a monumental cock-up) then she'd be accused of chickening out. She probably is political toast but would rather make the effort to look like she's trying every option first.

Yes I'm sure it was the remainers who forced her to put her own name on the side of that bus.

I think she is probably quite reserved and finds all the slick, glib media stuff distasteful and difficult, as opposed to previous PMs like Blair and Cameron who relished it.

I think she was taking a calculated risk with the election, but being told repeatedly that she had no mandate as PM, would have eventually pushed her in that direction.

Given she has only been an MP for 20 years, she is obviously effective at what she does to reach the upper echelons of the Tory party so quickly. Corbyn had basked in obscurity from 1983 until 2015 by comparison.

I think it's worth noting that the two female PMs we have had, have both been from the Tory party.

Fwiw, I think she is a conviction politician, (as opposed to the posh boys), but has trouble conveying that. I wish Osborne would stfu.....if he was so dedicated to politics, he would have stayed on as a backbench MP. I can't see him being recommended again for a seat after this.

I also think we need more bloody difficult women in parliament...it doesn't seem to have done Merkel any harm being difficult, or the Polish PM.

scaryteacher. Absolutely.

Thing is though scary that if she finds all this media stuff distasteful, then what does it say about her judgement that she thought she could do the job in the first place, let alone win an election under her 'brand'? It can't have been a surprise to her.

TM: Ooh, I find media stuff distasteful. (Except for the One Show - that's excellent!)
TM: Oh, I know! I'll run a Presidential style campaign which is just all about me and how I'm so much better than Corbyn. Brilliant!

TM: Ooh, if I tell them repeatedly I'm stable will they forget?
a. My U-turn on National Insurance
b. My U-turn on calling the election.
c. My U-turn on the dementia tax.

TM: How about if I tell them repeatedly I'm the strongest for negotiations?
Will they ignore the fact that I refuse to debate?

TM: The good thing is no one in the rest of the world will have possibly seen how weak and wibbly I am!!
Errrrrrr.

Despite everything, I did feel sorry for her for about 5 minutes. You can see how awful she was feeling from her appearance - hunched over posture, jerky limbs, face a mass of twitches. She looks like someone who was badly bullied in school and is having major flashbacks. Then I remembered her totally delusional post-election statement and the fact that as of yesterday she apparently hadn't bothered to call the Tory MPs who lost their seats. And all the stories about her ghastly advisors - a pair of poundshop Malcolm Tuckers - who apparently behaved, with her blessing, as if they were more important than cabinet ministers.

I did feel very sorry for Amber Rudd when she was interviewed waiting for the result at her constituency and it looked (wrongly) as if she was going to lose. I wouldn't wish losing your dad and your job in the space of two weeks on anyone.

I think she is probably quite reserved and finds all the slick, glib media stuff distasteful and difficult, as opposed to previous PMs like Blair and Cameron who relished it.

So why organise a presidential style campaign where she was the brand? All those bussed in activists waving Theresa May (rather than Conservative) banners behind her and all the talk of 'I will do this' and 'I will do that.' Trying to build an election strategy around the personality of its leader is all well and good if you have a charismatic leader, but when the leader has all the personality of a piece of damp cardboard and seems to fear or disdain contact with ordinary people, it snacks of extreme self regard or extreme tendency to be easily flattered.

Fwiw, I think she is a conviction politician, (as opposed to the posh boys), but has trouble conveying that.

I don't think that at all, what are the central guiding beliefs of her political philosophy? I think you are confusing convictions with being stubborn and refusing to listen to other people telling you something you don't want to hear or an willingness to compromise: that makes her brittle, not strong.

You can do a job without being good at the media stuff. I wouldn't say that Lady T was brilliant on TV, but she was very effective. There is far more to being PM of the UK than media appearances and sound bites, unless that is how you wish the UK to be governed?

I found aspects of my job as a teacher distasteful and difficult...that didn't mean that I wasn't good at the job overall; there were bits that came harder to me than others (parents evenings when I had to try hard to be tactful and diplomatic and not just tell it as it was), but I consistently got the best GCSE results in the department. Arguably, the latter was more important than the court of public (parental) opinion. Same with the PM; I think she just wants to get on with the job in hand, and prove herself.

I have a lot of compassion for all kinds of people, even bad people. But even I can't find any for TM. If she stood down I'd give her a tiny ounce of my respect, as I did for DC.

Same with the PM; I think she just wants to get on with the job in hand, and prove herself

But it's not about her though. We live in a democracy and in a democracy, people on all sides need to be listened to.

Her arrogance in PMQs - just like Cameron - shows that she doesn't get the issues like the NHS and education and austerity.

Remember the way she dismissed the nurse on the debate. The way she has dismissed people's concerns over education cuts.

She is not prepared to listen. It's not about her. It's about the country.

Did she feel in the slightest bit sorry when Jeremy Corbyn was being relentlessly attacked by the press and his party last year?

Did she show an ounce of sympathy to Diane Abbott when it was discovered that Diane has been receiving death threats and abuse every day for the last 30 years?

On the contrary, she waded right in there to join the kicking.

And that's without the damage she's done to the vulnerable in this country.

Of course she had a mandate. She had a perfectly adequate majority.

I think she is probably quite reserved and finds all the slick, glib media stuff distasteful and difficult

I'm inclined to agree, but after all it's her job and she wanted it

I may have voted for her party's MP, but at the end of the day all these people are politicians with the lying, chiselling and backsliding that involves ... therefore pity isn't something I waste on them

Ideally no it would be great if we could be governed by sensible people rather than PR men like Cameron, but it's ridiculous not to acknowledge the world we live in. And if she can't or won't do that then she was stupid to make it all about her at the election.

I don't think having children necessarily makes you a more compassionate person. But, it does make you aware of how difficult it can be caring for someone else, how hard it can be to raise a family, and brings humility and humanity to many people.

YABU - this is a self inflicted wound caused by her own arrogance and ineptitude. She'll get no sympathy from me.

But thank you for reminding me to watch Dangerous Liaison again. It's been too long!

Oh dear OP, i don't think you're going to get much support from a mainly left-wing audience. I feel a little bad for her that this situation has been heaped on her by Cameron suddenly deciding to leave, but as PM she needs to toughen up bit. But yes, in response to your original post, i feel a bit sorry for her too.

She basically tried to fix what wasn't broken, and It back fired on her.
She smugly thought she was going to get a landslide and Corbyn was going to get about 2 votes.
She forgot one massive factor. She was never actually voted in by the British Public, so. I don't know why she thought. We're all in love with her.
And Now thanks to her we've got 2 bosses ruling our lives. One of which I didn't even know existed until Friday morning. Wonderful.

I don't think having children necessarily makes you a more compassionate person. But, it does make you aware of how difficult it can be caring for someone else, how hard it can be to raise a family, and brings humility and humanity to many people.

Sorry but that is excusing a particularly nasty view point.

TM has kept her cool whilst the media has whipped up a frenzy.

She is steely and determined.

Let's give her time. She wanted extra time in office and she has achieved that.

Only time will tell how good she will be.

The kids thing is bullshit. The world is littered with hard assed, ruthless politicians. Most of them are parents.