Theresa May (born 1956) is a British politician, former chairman of the Conservative Party, and MP for Maidenhead.
She studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford and obtained a Geography MA. From 1985 to 1997, she was a consultant for a financial institution, and in 1997 became the Tory MP for Maidenhead - she had in 1992 stood for Durham North West, a safe Labour seat. She soon became a member of William Hague's team, with her appointment shadow minister for schools in 1998.
She joined the Shadow Cabinet proper in 1999 as Shadow Education and Employment Secretary, and since then, under Iain Duncan Smith had been in a variety of shadow cabinet posts, notably chairman. She is perhaps the most prominent woman in the Conservative Party since Margaret Thatcher.
She courted controversy within the party at the 2002 Party Conference by warning that the Tories were seen as the nasty party and that they needed to shed this image.
After Michael Howard became Tory leader in 2003, he made her Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and the Environment.
In the register of members interests she declared that she had '[received a] discount card on the purchase of shoes from Russell and Bromley, which has the potential to be of registrable value.'
