Theresa
May is to take a three-week
holiday walking in the Alps with her husband Philip.
The Prime
Minister and Mr May will leave
on Monday for five days in northern Italy then return briefly to the UK to
attend commemorations of the centenary of the battle of Passchendaele in
Belgium.
They will then depart once again for Switzerland for a
further two weeks, before returning to work in Downing Street on August 14,
said a Number 10 spokeswoman.
Unlike some of her predecessors, Mrs May has not named
a minister who will take charge of the business of government while she is
away.
The Number 10 spokeswoman said that "various
ministers will be on duty over the period", while Mrs May will be
"constantly updated" by Downing Street on developments in her
absence.
She joked on Wednesday that fellow Conservatives may
be relieved that she is not returning to Wales, where she made the fateful
decision to call a snap election while walking in Snowdonia with husband Philip
at Easter.
"I think there are many people who are grateful
I'm going to the Alps and not to Wales again," she told LBC radio.
Mr and Mrs May are regular summer visitors to the
Alps, and the Prime Minister has named the Swiss regions of Zermatt and the
Bernese Oberland as two of her favourite destinations because they are both
"fantastic for walking"