on the theory that they do everything better in England

I have steepholm to thank for this.

Remember Marco Rubio and his memorized 30-second soundbites?

Well, they've got a guy in England who, for ability to repeat himself over and over and not address the question, makes little Marco look like amateur hour. Just watch this:

British prime ministerial statistics

Now that Theresa May is set to become Prime Minister on Wednesday, it's worth noting that it's rather rare for a Home Secretary to become PM. That's not a coincidence: as minister for such matters as the police and immigration, it's full of political traps and is consequently rarely sought after by the politically ambitious, who fear it'll be the graveyard of their reputations rather than the making of it. (See Jacqui Smith, Gordon Brown's first Home Secretary, for a typical trajectory.)

Yet May, who was probably not thinking of ever moving up when she took the job, has managed neatly to avoid most of this. And not only is she merely the fourth Home Secretary to become PM since back in the mid-19th century, she is also the only Home Secretary who had not also held one of the other top jobs (Chancellor of the Exchequer or Foreign Secretary) to become PM in all that time too.

Just to wig you out further, here's a list of all the PMs since the First Reform Act (by their first date in that office) with their previous Cabinet experience.

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