May had wanted to be Britain's first female PM and was irritated when Thatcher beat her into Number 10, claims friend 

Theresa May had wanted to be Britain's first woman prime minister and was 'very irritated' Margaret Thatcher beat her to it, one of her oldest friends said said today.

Pat Frankland, who knew Mrs May and her husband Philip from Oxford, said when they met in 1974 the new Tory leader had said as a teenager she wanted to enter Downing Street .

Mrs May is today set to become Britain's second woman prime minister but she had wanted to be the first, Mrs Frankland said.

She recalled that Mrs May told her: 'She wanted to be the first woman prime minister back in our Oxford days and she was very irritated when Maggie Thatcher beat her to it.

'It was just: "I wanted to be first and she got there first." I met her on our first or second day of college, when she was 17 and I was 18. I was aware of that ambition from the very early days'.

Ambition: Theresa May puts her arm round her future husband Philip while studying at Oxford, where the then Theresa Brasier had told friends she wanted to be prime minister and was annoyed Mrs Thatcher beat her to it

Statement: Theresa May, pictured with her husband Philip, chose to wear a blue two-piece suit when first elected in 1997, as Mrs Thatcher did when she entered Downing Street in 1979

A year later, in 1975, Mrs Thatcher became Tory leader and Mrs Frankland told the Guardian: 'Margaret Thatcher made it seem feasible, so I didn't query it as much as I would have done 10 years earlier.

She added: 'I would not say she was Theresa’s heroine. She believes in society, she has got that kind of side to her. I don’t think she’s a Thatcherite. We’ll see'.

Mrs May met her husband Philip at Oxford and they married in 1980 and he is set to enter Downing Street with his wife today.

Many have drawn comparisons between him and Denis Thatcher, but Mrs Frankland says he is his own man and very different from Mrs Thatcher's husband.

She said: 'They are chalk and cheese. I can’t imagine him being a clubby, drinking, golf type at all. He is very calm, very supportive, he’s behind her all the way. He’ll cope with it, he’s always seemed a well-grounded individual. I’ve never seen them fall out'.

Theresa May has made no secret of her admiration for Margaret Thatcher as she has become the most powerful female politician in Britain since the Iron Lady.

But when the Tory leadership frontrunner entered Parliament in 1997 it is clear her inspiration was both political and sartorial.

Mrs May wore a blue power suit extraordinarily similar to the one worn by Mrs Thatcher when she swept into Downing Street in 1979.

Mrs Thatcher wore head to toe blue on many occasions in her 11 years as Prime Minister as she became an icon for many Tory supporters.

Mrs May has brushed off comparisons with Margaret Thatcher as a woman aspiring to lead her country, saying: 'Whether it's a woman or a man, what counts is the quality of the individual.'

But the similarities are obvious.

Mrs May became an MP for the first time in 1997 when she won her seat in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Within two years she was in William Hague's shadow cabinet, the same amount of time it took Mrs Thatcher to get a senior post.

As he lent in to give his wife a peck on the cheek, the husband of new Prime Minister Theresa May, left, looked every inch the supportive 'first husband' today as he evoked memories of a similar show of affection dished out by the Iron Lady's Denis Thatcher 30 years ago, right

This week Philip May bore an uncanny resemblance to Denis Thatcher as he and his wife both waved to the camera (pictured left) in an image that was almost identical to one of Margaret Thatcher and her husband outside 10 Downing Street in May 1989 (right)

Mrs May would later serve under Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard and David Cameron in opposition.

In 2010 she became the Tory Home Secretary and has been there ever since, becoming the longest-serving home secretary since Henry Matthews in 1892, overtaking Rab Butler's 2,007 days under Harold Macmillan.

The Home Secretary is a fan of a power suit but is famously unapologetic about her fancy footwear, having described her sometimes maverick choices as a conversation starter.

She once said: ‘I have no regrets (about being famous for my shoes). The good thing is that they are often an icebreaker.'

The Tory MP famously sported a pair of leopard-print kitten heels at the Conservatives’ annual party conference back in 2002...and the eye-catching footwear has kept coming ever since.

A supporter at the Conservative fundraising Black and White Ball once splashed out a cool £17,500 to go on a shoe-shopping mission with Mrs May.

And the Home Secretary even suggested once that her shoe-style had encouraged a young supporter to venture into politics: 'I was in the Commons recently and saw a young lady wearing a nice pair of shoes.

'I said I liked them and she said my shoes were the reason she became involved in politics.'

Just like Margaret Thatcher the current Home Secretary had a burning desire to lead the country and enjoys the love and support of her 'rock' husband of 36 years, Philip May.

Now the couple are set to enter Downing Street as her extraordinary rise to the very top of British politics.

Mrs May attended church on Sunday morning with her husband Philip near her Maidenhead constituency in Berkshire this weekend

Philip May has quietly been supporting his wife throughout her escalating career as he, like Denis Thatcher, follows a financial career, as an adviser to wealthy clients.

Mr and Mrs Thatcher met through the Conservative party while Mr and Mrs May met at a Tory disco and bonded over their shared love of cricket. Denis' passion was rugby.

In 1997 when Mrs May was first elected to Parliament Mr May stood proudly by her as she wore a blue suit remarkably similar to the one Mrs Thatcher donned when she became prime minister in 1979.

The Mays, who married in September 1980, live together in an immaculate home in Sonning, Berkshire, where the neighbours include George and Amal Clooney and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

They met at Oxford and her then boyfriend and future husband — two years her junior — was the toast of the debating chamber. A friend of Benazir Bhutto, the future Prime Minister of Pakistan who was to be assassinated in 2007.

It was Benazir who introduced Philip to Theresa at a Conservative association disco — he the centre of much attention, she the barely-noticed ex-grammar schoolgirl and vicar's daughter.

The couple married soon after he graduated, but he still persuaded her to return to debate him over whether 'sex is great'.

Those who knew the Mays in their early married days say banker Philip was the one thought more likely to go into politics.

It was presumed Theresa would be the wage-earner as she, too, had gone into the City and become a great success.

But then she was elected to Merton Borough Council, had success running local schools and her political ambition was stoked.

One friend said of Philip: 'He's supportive but not competitive. He's reserved, kind, polite. He's also a bit shy.'

Another told the Guardian: 'Philip is really lovely. He's just a regular, nice guy who's bright like she is. They still totally love each other and have a great friendship. He is good for her because he's aware she's home secretary but she's still just Theresa to him…When they're together, they seem younger.'

He also clearly loves and admires his wife, when asked if Mrs May was a beauty he replied: 'Was? She still is'.

Theresa May married her husband Peter in 1980 at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Wheatley in Oxfordshire. To the left of Philip are his parents John and Joy May. To the right of Mrs May is her clergyman father Hubert, maternal grandmother Violet Barnes and her mother Zaidee in a wheelchair

The support from Phillip, pictured standing next to Mrs May in 1980, provided crucial when her parents died

The couple have no children, for health reasons, which is said to be of great regret to them.

In a rare comment on the matter Mrs May said in 2012: 'I think if you talk to anybody who would like to have had children… I mean, you look at families all the time and you see there is something there that you don't have'.

Friends see this as part of the reason she immerses herself so very deeply in her work. She is often trawling through her ministerial red boxes often until two in the morning, or, for example, firing off emails on government matters on Christmas Eve.

Being without children is something she has in common with Germany's Angela Merkel, whom she admires for 'getting things done' and who, like her, is also the daughter of a clergyman. 

The support of her husband proved crucial when Mrs May's parents both died the year after the wedding, when she was aged just 25.

The then Theresa Brasier went up to St Hugh's College, Oxford, to study geography in October 1974.

Friends say she went out with a few other men but 'nobody who was special' before being introduced to Mr May by Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's future prime minister, at an Oxford Conservative disco in 1976.

They married in 1980 at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Wheatley in Oxfordshire, where Miss Brasier's father was vicar.

But tragedy struck the following year when her 64-year-old father Rev Hubert Brasier died in a car crash as he drove to conduct a service.