CAN you remember back when Theresa May was being hailed as the new Margaret Thatcher?

It was only last summer - a lifetime ago in politics - when the Daily Telegraph proclaimed: “The Tory Party may have found another Iron Lady,” and Sky’s Adam Boulton said Mrs May’s “fairer Britain” speech “reminded me a bit of Thatcher”. 

Some of this was undoubtedly a case of blokes in the media making lazy comparisons between the only two women to be PM. 

Ken Clarke didn’t help matters at the time when he described Mrs May as “a bloody difficult woman…but I worked for Margaret Thatcher.” 

Great! After years of being told she wasn’t as capable as the men around her Mrs May’s introduction to the top job was to be likened to her only female predecessor. Never mind that May and Thatcher held polar opposing views on core issues, the logic seemed to be that they were women and therefore ripe for comparison like exhibits at a summer fete. 

At least actor Jodie Whittaker, who is about to become the first woman to play the lead in Dr Who, can revel in her status as a trailblazer, although it probably won’t be long before the Daleks start referring to her as “that bloody difficult woman” - the sexist pigs. 

Mrs May’s honeymoon period was made easier by her being surrounded by a bunch of feckless, back-biting men. She needs to realise not much has changed in that regard. 

The time has come for her to seize control of her government from the hands of ministers hell-bent on rebellion. 

This is a career-defining moment for the Prime Minister. Forget the Iron Lady parallels - Mrs May needs to show us what she is made of.