Warwick graduate Andrea Leadsom in the running to become next Prime Minister

Update: As of 11 July, Andrea Leadsom is no longer in the running to be Prime Minister, having pulled out of the race. Theresa May is the new Prime Minister of the UK.

Andrea Leadsom, a Warwick graduate, is in the running to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister. Leadsom, who graduated in 1984 with a degree in Political Science, will take on Home Secretary Theresa May in the party’s final leadership ballot set to take place on September 9th.

David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister the morning after the EU Referendum, sparking the leadership contest.

Leadsom, the current Minister of State for Energy and MP for South Northamptonshire, was part of the winning Leave campaign, while Theresa May was an advocate for Remain. Three other hopefuls – including Michael Gove – have already been voted out of the contest by Conservative MPs.

The choice between May and Leadsom will fall to Conservative members by vote. It is guaranteed that the next Prime Minister will be a woman, just the second to fulfil the role after Margaret Thatcher’s premiership from 1979-1990.

The pair are currently embroiled in campaigning that has already turned controversial, after the Times reported that Leadsom believes her motherhood stands her apart from May, who was unable to have children.

Leadsom is quoted as saying: “May possibly has nieces, nephews, lots of people. But I have children who are going to have children who will be directly part of what happens next.”

Leadsom has since claimed these remarks were misconstrued. This morning she stated she was “disgusted about how this was presented.”

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, is Leadsom’s campaign manager, and a fellow Warwick graduate. He has claimed he in fact got her to join the Conservative Party while they were at Warwick.

He stated in the Worthing Herald: “I, in fact, recruited her to the Conservative Party as a fresh-faced teenager when we were both at Warwick University back in 1981.”

He has denied however, that either were part of an exclusive dining club called The Patricians during their time at Warwick.

Warwick University Conservative Association have commented: “It’s fantastic not only to see two women running in the leadership contest, but one who studied right here at Warwick.

“It is a source of both inspiration and pride that someone who may well become Prime Minister walked the same corridors that we do now.”

After graduating, Leadsom went on to be a trader at Barclays de Zoete Wedd, the investment arm of the bank. At 32, she became the youngest director at Barclays as Head of UK Banking.

If Andrea Leadsom were to be successful in her leadership bid, she will be just the second university educated Prime Minister since 1945 to not have studied at Oxford.

She also follows in the footsteps of David Davis, another Warwick alumnus who stood for Conservative leadership in 2005. He lost to David Cameron.

The University have stated: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment much while the leadership contest is ongoing. We can say that we are delighted that so many Warwick Graduates have reached significant positions in a range of UK political parties.”