Goodbye Mrs Leadsom: For Warwick’s sake, thank god you quit

Before the Tory leadership contest started, I hadn’t ever heard of Andrea Leadsom. Like many other students, I didn’t see the live television debates before the EU referendum, meaning that I was oblivious to the rising star among the Leave campaign ranks. A rising Warwick star at that.

The idea of one of our alumnus becoming our next Prime Minister was initially a refreshing one; the vice grip of Oxbridge on our nation’s premier public office finally faced a plausible challenge. Most importantly a challenge coming from Warwick; a university that has consistently defied the ‘oldest is best’ stereotype within British higher education throughout its fifty years, and the university I’m proud to call my home.

However, far from leaving myself and a number of other Warwick students feeling well represented, Andrea Leadsom’s candidacy for Prime Minister left me with a very bad taste in the mouth. This wasn’t because she campaigned for Brexit in the referendum. After all, we’re never going to find unity in our country if we hold people to the way they voted on June 23. My reasoning was simply based on the fact the more I unearthed about Leadsom and her politics, the more I realised how devastating her election could have been.

Most importantly a challenge coming from Warwick; a university that has consistently defied the ‘oldest is best’ stereotype within British higher education throughout its fifty years

Firstly, her stance on LGBT+ members of our society. Back in 2009, Leadsom addressed the issue of gay adoption in a blog post, entitled ‘What has gone wrong with our adoption policies?’, in the piece she found issue with a gay couple adopting two children ahead of several heterosexual couples. Add to that a rather confusing view that the legalisation of gay marriage was both wrong and right and it becomes clear she isn’t my ideal leader.

Sadly LGBT+ rights weren’t the only cause for concern when it came to Leadsom’s stance on equality issues. Putting aside that recent spat about being a mum, Leadsom doesn’t seem to understand what feminism is. Her claim that she isn’t a feminist because she “isn’t anti-men” is preposterous, and shows that she doesn’t care enough about core issues to spare a moment to google a definition. The truth of the matter is that being a woman doesn’t make you a feminist any more than being a feminist makes you a man-hater; feminism is about a fundamental belief in equality between genders, an idea which both she and our new Prime Minister Theresa May misunderstand.

She found issue with a gay couple adopting two children ahead of several heterosexual couples

For the average student, the jobs we aim for after graduation are a pretty big concern. While many of us enter graduate schemes in large companies, some opt for positions in small businesses, where there can be fewer than four employees. Unfortunately, there’s no way to sugar-coat this: Leadsom wanted to scrap employment regulations in small businesses, including the rights to a minimum wage, maternity pay and not being unfairly dismissed. In a time of economic uncertainty after one of the most divisive votes in our political history, the last thing we need is for a new Prime Minister to disregard the rights of our citizens, so we’re lucky Leadsom won’t get her way.

Ultimately, I felt let down by Andrea Leadsom. You don’t have to be a Tory to see that our supposedly “United” Kingdom is in dire need of some cohesion right now. From her position, Leadsom had a prime opportunity to bring together warring political factions and give some hope for the future to people across the country, including ourselves as students. It’s safe to say in the run up to her withdrawal from the leadership contest she looked set to fail.

You don’t have to be a Tory to see that our supposedly “United” Kingdom is in dire need of some cohesion right now

Andrea Leadsom completely squandered the opportunity she had without even making the final ballot due to her complete lack of experience – a fact that offers some consolation in a period of endless bad news. It was a close call, but I can rest easy in the knowledge that Warwick won’t be represented at the highest level by somebody who, quite frankly, was unfit to represent anybody.