THERESA May is to break precedent by speaking publicly in the middle of the new Prime Minister’s first Tory conference.
The outgoing PM, who steps down in three weeks time, has agreed to be interviewed at the Henley Literary Festival on Monday September 30 – Day Two of the Conservatives’ annual gathering in Manchester.
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It is tradition for former party leaders to take a vow of silence at least for the first few years after leaving power so as not to cause trouble for the new party boss.
The action will be seen as Mrs May teeing up a chance to fire a warning shot over her successor’s bows.
The Tory leader also reaffirmed her pledge to stay on as an MP yesterday to the Commons, angrily shooting down a Lib Dem claim she was about to
resign her seat.
Announcing her at the festival in Henley, which borders her Maidenhead constituency, its organisers said: “Mrs May is scheduled to appear on 30th
September, which is during the Tory party conference.
“She can frequently be seen shopping in the town. She will be interviewed on the books that have helped to shape her life.”
Mrs May’s activism, after her long running feud with the contest frontrunner Boris Johnson, has lead some MPs to fear she plans to be a modern day Ted Heath.
The ex-Tory PM of the 1970s remained a bitter public critic of his successor, Margaret Thatcher, from the backbenches for years.
The PM’s spokesman said: “She will certainly play her full part in serving her constituents of Maidenhead, for at least the rest of this Parliament.
“She is very clear about that.”
But Mrs May’s aides ducked answering whether she planned to join Tory rebels and vote down a No Deal Brexit in October.
Her spokesman added: “She has always been very clear about the virtues of leaving the EU in an orderly way with a deal.”
