Theresa May Said Someone Told Her 'Your Shoes Got Me In To Politics' And People Are Deeply Unconvinced

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Theresa May has appeared on the BBC’s The One Show with her husband Philip for a soft-focus interview presumably designed to show another side to the hard-headed Prime Minister.

Few would have been expecting anything other than a warm bath of an interview since the post-commute show is not Newsnight and hosts Matt Baker and Alex Jones are not a double-headed Jeremy Paxman.

Yet the Tory leader probably couldn’t believe her luck when she was effectively asked to provide a cute anecdote on shoes, since shoes are Theresa May’s thing.

Theresa May wearing shoes.
Theresa May wearing shoes.
Reuters Photographer / Reuters

Quizzed on the attention she gets for her love of shoes, May said: “I like my nice shoes and it gives me a reason to go and buy some more.”

Fair enough.

She went on to tell the programme about meeting a young parliamentary staff member in the lifts in the House of Commons. The pair exchanged compliments on their shoes, before the staffer told May: “Your shoes got me involved in politics.”

Not everyone was convinced about the provenance of the tale.

Others thought it had the whiff of David Brent’s apparent benevolence in the first series of The Office.

young Greek guy, first job in the country, could hardly speak a word of the queen's, said "David, will you be godfather to my child?" https://t.co/7WWZtaCVhL

— malachy (@malachyok) May 9, 2017

"There goes David Brent. I must remember to thank him." https://t.co/kMBDY1cu1I

— hrtbps (@hrtbps) May 9, 2017

Brent’s final line btw: “Didn’t happen in the end. We had to let him go, he was rubbish. He was rubbish!”

Many struggled to suspend their disbelief.

This is like some sketch from Brass Eye that got rejected for being too bizarre. https://t.co/eauOsLBTH4

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) May 9, 2017

Can the woman who was inspired into politics by Theresa May's shoes step forward please

— Fatima Manji (@fatimamanji) May 9, 2017

Others had suggestions of other possible political icons.

Their shoes got me into politics pic.twitter.com/HubzLtliT5

— Yusuf. (@colouroffensive) May 9, 2017

'your shoes got me involved in politics' pic.twitter.com/pJJ1FdqpMt

— Prof Brian Spurtice (@BrianSpanner1) May 9, 2017

That anecdote about a person getting into politics because of shoes.
Gold. pic.twitter.com/FHTsvubWoM

— Ern Malley (@GeoffShadbold) May 9, 2017

He chipped in, of course

Theresa May says a young woman went into politics because 'she liked my shoes.'
Somewhere, Emma Watson is exploding. #TheOneShow

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 9, 2017

Yet despite the scepticism, it appears she has told the story before.

Theresa May told me the story about a young woman being inspired by her shoes when I interviewed her for my book last year: pic.twitter.com/UBqMlCfHkG

— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) May 9, 2017

More than once.

'Your shoes got me into politics' From FT interview with Theresa May https://t.co/DrISAYwjQn pic.twitter.com/ofSYDR1VOD

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) December 12, 2016

Maybe more than twice.

May used the 'my shoes got young woman into politics' line back in 2010 pic.twitter.com/xs9v4eIcyW

— Gareth Davies (@Gareth_Davies09) May 9, 2017
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