More than five years after Theresa May revealed the “naughtiest” thing she ever did as a child, the former prime minister has now admitted to having a “guilty pleasure”.
But if May’s confession that she “used to run through fields of wheat” as a child emphasised how much of a self-described “goody two shoes” once was, her latest revelation will only reaffirm that status.
In a new interview, the politician opened up about growing up as the daughter of a vicar and was asked if she ever felt the need to rebel.
“I haven’t had a rebellious childhood and suddenly transformed,” she told The Times in an interview published on Saturday (26 August).
However, May admitted that she enjoys eating peanut butter straight out of the jar, which is her “guilty pleasure”.
“There’s no transformation on peanut butter – there’s a jar in the cupboard!” she added.
In a 2017 interview with ITV, May said she was “bookish as a child”.
“I was an only child, so of course I didn’t have brothers and sisters who I was playing with and so obviously I had friends but sometimes had to just go out and, sort of, do things on my own,” she recalled.
Asked what the “naughtiest thing” she ever did was, May appeared sheepish and said: “Well, nobody is ever perfectly behaved, are they? I mean, you now, there are times when… I have to confess, when me and my friend, sort of, used to run through fields of wheat.
“There farmers weren’t too pleased about that,” she added.
The former Conservative Party leader’s rather tame confession prompted people to mock her claim that it was the naughtiest thing she had ever done.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson shared a photo of herself running through a field of wheat as a joke during a visit to Gorgie City Farm in Edinburgh.
The following year, former prime minister Boris Johnson – who succeeded May as prime minister in July 2019 – appeared to “troll” his predecessor when he was photographed running through what looked like a field of wheat.
In her latest interview, May also explained what had gone on behind the well-known photograph of former US president Donald Trump holding her hand as they walked through the White House in January 2017.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May and former U.S. President Donald Trump walk along The Colonnade of the West Wing at The White House on January 27, 2017— (Getty Images)
May said that Trump, who has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and obstruction of an official proceeding, grabbed her hand as they were walking down a slope, while she was wearing high heels.
She explained: “I have no idea why he did it. I mean, he sort of said, ‘Oh, there’s a slope so you need to be careful on the slope’.”
Suggesting that Trump’s caution may have been due to his wife Melania Trump’s regular use of “very high heels”, she continued: “I had heeled shoes on but they weren’t high heels. I thought, ‘I’m capable of walking down a slope, thank you very much’, and the next thing I know he’s holding my hand.
“The best interpretation is he’s being a gentleman. But subsequently a lot of people said maybe he needed the support going down the slope. I don’t know. He just grabbed my hand and I thought he would then let go of it, but he didn’t.”
May was the UK’s prime minister from 2016 to 2019. Prior to that, she served in former prime minister David Cameron’s cabinet as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016.
She is currently an MP for Maidenhead in Berkshire, a role she has held since 1997. May is married to her husband Philip May, whom she wed in 1980.
