Theresa May,  Britain’s new prime minister,  is a pragmatist who has emerged from the chaos of the Brexit referendum unscarred, portraying herself as the one who will lead the country out of the EU.
The country’s second female leader after fellow Conservative and anti-EU firebrand Margaret Thatcher, May was officially — but unenthusiastically — in favour of Britain staying in the European Union.
She kept a low profile throughout the campaign, and when the June 23 referendum delivered a shock “Leave” result, stepped into the political vacuum left by David Cameron’s decision to quit.
Although May trounced her rivals for the premiership, she faces an uphill struggle to unite a country and a party deeply split by the referendum.
She has been labelled, in an unguarded moment, a “bloody difficult woman” by senior Conservative Kenneth Clarke. But the 59-year-old claims this is the very quality which will stand her in good stead for the battles ahead. “The next person to find that out will be Jean-Claude Juncker,” she reportedly told MPs, referring to Brexit negotiations with the European Commission president.
May is a keen cricket fan and lists her hobbies as walking and cooking, telling one interviewer that she had more than 100 cook books at home.
She was born Theresa Brasier in the southern English seaside town of Eastbourne in 1956. Her father Hubert was an Anglican clergyman, one of several points which has drawn comparisons between her and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Her education - at a series of little known state and private schools - has been contrasted with the elite Etonian background of Cameron and many in his “Notting Hill Set” circle. Like Cameron, she attended Oxford University but kept a low profile.
It was there that she met her husband Philip, a banker - they were reportedly introduced by Benazir Bhutto, who went on to become Pakistani premier but was later assassinated. The couple married in 1980 but were unable to have children.
May’s rival Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the leadership race two days after comments were published suggesting this made her less qualified to be prime minister.
May worked in finance, including at the Bank of England, before being elected as MP for the London commuter town of Maidenhead in 1997.
As Conservative chairwoman in 2002, she made waves by suggesting the Tories were seen as “the nasty party” and needed to overhaul their image - although under Cameron’s leadership, they did so. When the Conservatives won the 2010 general election, May was named home secretary, the hardest job in government which has wrecked a string of other political careers. But May has kept the job for six years - the longest serving interior minister since 1892.