UK home secretary ahead in race to become next PM

LONDON

Britain will have a woman prime minister for only the second time in its history, it emerged Thursday after Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom were shortlisted in the governing party’s leadership contest.

May, the home secretary, was supported by a large majority of the Conservative Party’s 330 lawmakers, securing her position as the frontrunner in the race to succeed David Cameron.

May won 199 votes against Treasury Minister Andrea Leadsom, who took 84, and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, who came last with 46 votes.

The leadership election was called after Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would resign in response to last month’s British referendum decision to leave the European Union.

Under contest rules, Gove is now eliminated, while May and Leadsom will face one another in a vote of the 150,000 party members. The winner will be declared on Sept. 9.

May hailed the result, saying it showed the Conservative Party could unite under her leadership after the divisive EU referendum vote.

“Now is the time for me and my team to take my case out to the party members in the country,” she told the press outside Parliament shortly after the result was declared.

“And that case is based on three things, because we need proven leadership to negotiate the best deal for leaving the European Union, to unite our party and our country, and to make Britain a country that works not for the privileged few, but for everyone.”

Britain’s last woman prime minister was another Conservative politician, Margaret Thatcher, who was in office between 1979 and 1990.