Whitchurch woman recalls new Prime Minister Theresa May as university classmate

Val Scarlett, 59, is a teacher at Harper Adams University, but in the 1970s studied geography at Oxford alongside Theresa May.

Now Mrs Scarlett, who lives in Whitchurch, says she intends to write a note to her former classmate congratulating her on the new job.

She said: "I am really pleased for her.

"I wasn't her best friend, I was just a fellow student. I knew her as well as anybody who does the same course. It was a small environment – just nine of us – and we shared tutorials and queued up for lunch together.

"She was quiet but got on with the job. She knew what she was about and didn't covet the limelight. I always found her very pleasant and easy to talk to.

"When I knew her, we hadn't even had Margaret Thatcher yet, and women weren't as politically recognised as they are now. I never thought one of those girls would end up as Prime Minister.

"I've always made it a rule not to discuss politics with people. At that age, I have to say I wasn't really politically astute.

"The good thing about her was she would never push her politics down anyone's throat. It didn't resonate that she was in the Young Conservatives – it was just something she did. I played squash."

Except for a few Christmas cards, the pair lost touch and it wasn't until years later that she realised her former classmate had achieved her ambition of going into politics.

Mrs Scarlett said: "You always say you're going to stay in touch, but you never do.

"I went to an event and her name came up and I thought 'oh, so she did make it into politics'. Since then I've followed what she has been doing.

"All I want is for her to deliver on what she has promised. Working in education, you're always trying to help people on with their lives. She can do that from the top down."

Mrs Scarlett hasn't written the note yet, but will take her time deciding what to say.

She said: "If you're going to write a note to the Prime Minister, you can't just dash something off. I want to genuinely congratulate her.

"It'll have pleasantries in it, and I'll look forward to following her progress."

Mrs May secured a second class honours degree at Oxford. In that, she joins Margaret Thatcher, although the Iron Lady's second class at Oxford was in chemistry. It was also at Oxford that Mrs May, then Theresa Brasier, met her husband Philip.

A 1977 photograph emerged recently of the prime minister, then aged just 20, with Philip after she had just completed her final exams at Oxford.

Friends have spoken of Mrs May's time at Oxford and of her relationship with Philip.

Alicia Collinson was a close friend at Oxford. They joined the course in October 1974, just as Harold Wilson was winning the second general election of that year.

Wilson's victory was the talk of the university and at a college breakfast not long after, the young Theresa Brasier turned to her friend and said she would one day be prime minister.

Mrs Collinson said: "My memory's hazy but it was the first term at Oxford in 1974. We were at breakfast and she said something about wanting to be prime minister."

Friends recall that for the first two years of undergraduate life, Mrs May had "many male friends but nobody who was special".

She was part of a high-flying set that also included Alan Duncan, the former international development minister, and Damian Green, who answered to Mrs May when a Home Office minister and who is now married to Alicia.

"Theresa went out with other people," said Mrs Collinson, a successful family law barrister. "But none of them were quite what she wanted. None of them were special. Then in our final year, Philip came along. There was Philip and nobody else."

The pair met after an introduction by Benazir Bhutto, who would go on to become Pakistan's prime minister, at an Oxford Conservative disco in 1976, Mr May's first year.

Miss Collinson describes Mrs May as "fun" to spend time with but others, who do not wish to be named, describe her even then as "reticent and self-contained".

When Mr May came on the scene, he was a year younger than his wife-to-be and two years below at Oxford. In his final year, Mr May would go on to become Oxford Union president, meeting the likes of the former US president Richard Nixon.

Mrs May was a keen debater. In reports of the Oxford Union debates at the time, she cut quite a figure. In one debate on abortion she is described as "the statuesque Miss Brasier burning with emotion in her red dress".

By 1977, Mrs May had graduated, taking a job in the Bank of England. In September 1980, both still only 23, they were married and Mr May would leave Oxford to embark on a highly successful career in the City.