When Theresa May met Vogue: The papers react

Prime Minister discusses holding hands with Donald Trump, popularity and life at No 10

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(Image credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vogue)

Theresa May has sat down with US Vogue for a wide-ranging interview in which she touched on the political and personal, but did we learn anything new?

Readers particularly wanted to know more about the awkward moment in which US President Donald Trump took the Prime Minister's hand at the White House.

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"I think he was actually being a gentleman," May said. "We were about to walk down a ramp and he said it might be a bit awkward."

"I like to think we got on," May added, although she admitted that, ideologically, she saw herself as closer to Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Unlike the populist President, the Prime Minister said being "popular" was not on her radar.

Asked whether she felt the need to be liked, May answered "brusquely", says the BBC, and said being Prime Minister is "not a popularity stakes".

She also bristled when discussing comparisons with Margaret Thatcher. "There can only ever be one Margaret Thatcher. I'm Theresa May," she said. "I do things my way."

The Prime Minister has happy to speak about her relationship with Philip, her husband of 36 years, however.

They "argue about the same things that most people argue about", she said, such as which TV shows to watch - he is a fan of history programmes, while she prefers American procedural drama NCIS.

She added he has taken on an increasing share of kitchen duties since their move to No 10 and can now produce "a very good mushroom risotto".

For British readers, says The Times, the "tightlipped" interview offers "little new to learn" about the prime minister.

The paper also concentrates on May's outfits in the photoshoot, which veer away from the £995 leather trousers she wore during a Sunday Times interview last year, for which she was criticised.

The Guardian's Anne Perkins says the interview's "big revelation" is "just how dull [May] is".

"The prime minister has copied John Major in her determination to be as boring as it is possible to be while also leading a major western power," she says.

While the unusually lengthy interview was "quite a coup for US Vogue's British editor Anna Wintour", The Independent says it comes as no surprise – the Prime Minister's fondness for the glossy fashion magazine is a matter of public record.

During her time on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2014, the PM said her choice of luxury item would be a "lifetime subscription to Vogue".