Escaping the shadow of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher

Would hopefuls like Liz Truss and Valérie Pécresse deliver a calmer, fresher politics in the spirit of Ardern and Merkel, or just a retread of muscular Iron Ladyism?

In Britain, foreign secretary Liz Truss’s political star is in the ascendant as Boris Johnson’s falls. Conservative activists see her as the Cabinet minister most likely to succeed Johnson and she may make her move this year if his ratings continue to fall. She’ll run if he’s removed.

Across the Channel, a woman is rising in the polls ahead of the April 10 French presidential election. Valérie Pécresse, the first woman to run for president for the right-wing Les Républicains party of Charles de Gaulle and Jacques Chirac, is polling in second place behind Macron.

At one point, data even suggested Pécresse was narrowing the president’s lead and would defeat him in the run-off round on Sunday, April 24. The latest poll showed them tied.

Both Pécresse and Truss may be benefitting from what research shows are typical perceptions o…