Theresa May pokes fun at successors but praises Rishi Sunak – and issues warning over populism in politics
Former prime minister Theresa May has poked fun at her successors in Number 10, while issuing a warning to them to avoid delving into populist politics.
Giving a speech to reporters at an event in parliament, she spoke about her recent book tour, joking it was interesting to see how rival political titles would be categorised in bookshops.
“Liz Truss’s 10 Years To Save The West?” she quipped. “Well, given Liz’s reputation and record, maybe it should be 10 days to save Britain.
“That one probably goes under sci-fi and fantasy.”
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And how about Boris Johnson’s upcoming memoir? “That will undoubtedly be shelved under ‘current affairs’,” she joked.
Both Liz Truss and Boris Johnson became the butt of Theresa May’s jokes. Pic: Reuters
‘Answers in politics are not easy’
But making a more serious point, Mrs May – who is standing down as an MP at the next election – said all those politicians who followed her needed to be aware of the “potential threat from within Western democracies” – namely populism.
“We have seen the rise of populist politicians around the world and populism seeks to divide,” she said.
“It seeks to divide our societies and it seeks to provide easy answers – and actually the answers in politics and government are not easy.
“And people will feel even more let down if they grasp for that easy answer which is being provided by that populist politician.”
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‘Need for politicians to instil sense of service’
Asked if any of her successors had “fallen into that trap” of becoming populists already, Mrs May joked: “Now let’s see, how many successors have I had?”
But she added: “There is an element of politics today… that comes into the populism issue, which is a sort of expectation of celebrity.
“And I think certainly you could say some of my successors have fallen more into that category of celebrity than I did in my time in Number 10.
“But I think there is a real need for us as politicians to instil that sense of service and show it through our service to our constituencies, fundamentally.”
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‘Bringing stability is critical’
The current prime minister avoided a roasting from his predecessor, however, with Mrs May saying Rishi Sunak had brought “stability” to the role – and could even win the next election.
“Let’s face it,” she said. “[Voters] saw quite a bit of change under us and things happening, and they wanted some stability, and I think Rishi has brought that stability.
“He is having success in relation to the economy, as we have seen from GDP and inflation and hopefully interest rates in the summer, and bringing that stability is critical – being willing to say ‘actually I am here to get the job done’.”
Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.
Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.
They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.
There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.
But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.
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The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.
Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.
The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.
Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.
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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem
Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.
‘Missing in action’
General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”
She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.
“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.
“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.
“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”
Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.
He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.
“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.
A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.
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