--- description: Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom and Home Secretary Theresa May will face off to succeed David Cameron. title: One of These Two Women Will Be Britain's Next Prime Minister image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54be7d765b5b52fa/69889b0c0b72e30e556ea1a6/andrea-leadsom-theresa-may.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [U.K.](/tag/u-k/) ## U.K. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Britain's Next Prime Minister Will Be Theresa May or Andrea Leadsom  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2016 5:52 PM CUT  Getty Images (2)  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 7, 2016 5:52 PM CUT Energy Minister [Andrea Leadsom](http://time.com/4396235/andrea-leadsom-conservative-party-leadership-profile/ "undefined") and Home Secretary [Theresa May](http://time.com/4386934/theresa-may-boris-johnson-leader-conservative-party/ "undefined") will face off to succeed David Cameron as the Conservative Party leader and Britain’s Prime Minister. It became clear that Britain would have it’s [first female PM](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/british-prime-minister-contest-down-to-two-women-amid-eu-exit-fallout/2016/07/07/8499b76e-4390-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac%5Fstory.html "undefined") since Margaret Thatcher on Thursday, when the Conservative Party voted for May and Leadsom over a third candidate, Michael Gove. May led the ballot for the 330 Tories with 199 votes over Leadsom’s 84 and Gove’s 46, the [_Guardian_ ](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/jul/07/gove-leadsom-tory-leadership-vote-final-two-politics-live "undefined")[reports](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/jul/07/gove-leadsom-tory-leadership-vote-final-two-politics-live "undefined"). May also led by a wide margin in the first round of ballots on Tuesday. The 150,000 rank-and-file Conservative party members will now decide between the two in a ballot that ends Sept. 9\. Either May or Leadsom should then emerge the winner and take over as the next Prime Minister. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2016/jul/07/gove-leadsom-tory-leadership-vote-final-two-politics-live "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/"},"headline":"Britain's Next Prime Minister Will Be Theresa May or Andrea Leadsom","datePublished":"2016-07-07T17:52:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:06:44.140Z","description":"Britain will have its first female leader since Margaret Thatcher","url":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/","keywords":["U.K.","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54be7d765b5b52fa/69889b0c0b72e30e556ea1a6/andrea-leadsom-theresa-may.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54be7d765b5b52fa/69889b0c0b72e30e556ea1a6/andrea-leadsom-theresa-may.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"andrea-leadsom-theresa-may","caption":"Andrea Leadsom, Theresa May","creditText":"Getty Images (2)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/u-k/","name":"U.K."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/","name":"Britain's Next Prime Minister Will Be Theresa May or Andrea Leadsom"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Everything You Need to Know About Andrea Leadsom","description":"The pro-Brexit MP is competing with Theresa May to become Britain's next prime minister.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kVAILJSB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-07-07T18:37:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kVAILJSB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"What You Should Know About Theresa May","description":"Theresa May, England’s long-running Home Secretary, has announced her campaign to replace Prime Minister David Cameron.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hDhRkjHb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-30T16:29:42.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hDhRkjHb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/","duration":"PT1M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4396741/one-of-women-britains-prime-minister/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```