Ben Riley-Smith writes about the difficult relationship between Theresa May and Donald Trump in today’s Daily Telegraph:
A senior US diplomat said her frequent demands annoyed him, something he sees as taking advantage of the UK-US relationship. A long-time friend revealed Mr Trump complained when she admonished him in public after being deemed to have stepped out of line. A former White House official, who attended meetings between the pair, confirmed the frosty relationship: “No offence, but she is basically a school mistress. I’m not sure anyone gets on well with her.”
By all appearances, Ms. May has been quite good at projecting this image; the Americans’ reaction is understandable. This puts me back on one of my favorite hobby-horses: comparing the parentage and education of Theresa May, Margaret Thatcher, and Angela Merkel.
There fathers were all into preaching, each in his own way: May’s was an Anglican-Catholic priest, Thatcher’s an occasional lay preacher at a Methodist church, and Merkel’s a Lutheran minister. At college, May (then Brasier) majored in geography but took a job in finance after graduation. Thatcher (Roberts) received a degree in chemistry and worked as an industrial chemist for three years before going on to law school. Merkel (Kasner) worked at a research center for physical chemistry for 12 years after graduating, obtaining a PhD for her research.
From this point on, comparing and contrasting is straightforward.