LONDON — Theresa May could not have picked a better crisis.

Britain's second female prime minister, a leader without the faintest whiff of sleaze, is presented with the chance to lead the clean-up of British politics after a sexual harassment scandal with a string of male alleged protagonists.

Not only a female leader, but a woman who has campaigned her entire career to help other women in politics. A woman who even made the central goal of her premiership not the economic growth and deficit reduction of her predecessor, but ending injustice and tackling discrimination.

And yet, presented with just such a crisis, the prime minister is once again flailing, a step or two behind. Even her appointment of former chief whip Gavin Williamson as defense secretary to replace Michael Fallon following his surprise resignation Wednesday for inappropriate behavior, sparked a furious backlash in Westminster. Tory backbenchers, who rarely warm to the person tasked with keeping them in check, are suspicious of Williamson's rapid rise and conspicuous ambition.

The harassment crisis, which began as an anonymous list of unconnected allegations and relationship gossip, has snowballed into a full-blown scandal including claims of a rape cover-up (though that allegation refers to the opposition Labour Party) and the resignation of a long-serving Cabinet minister over suggestions of inappropriate advances in the past.

The scandal has rocked an already weak No. 10 Downing Street, led to a mini reshuffle and sparked fresh questions over the prime minister’s position, which had looked settled, at least in the short term.

“She should be out there saying I’m a woman and I’m fed up with it" — Former minister

Former Chancellor George Osborne's Evening Standard editorial Thursday says the developments over the past 48 hours, primarily the decision to force out Fallon for past misdemeanors, "feels like a career-defining moment" which could come back to haunt her.

“It’s the story of her premiership,” one senior Conservative MP said in exasperation. “She has no feel for running things. It’s about emotional intelligence — where is it?”

A usually supportive minister was more damning. “She is following the political script — write a letter, appoint someone to investigate, move on. It’s not good enough," the minister said. "As a woman in politics, she has a moral case to make, but she’s left it to [Scottish Conservative Leader] Ruth Davidson to do it. She is simply not leading.”

'Locker room culture'

Davidson appeared on the BBC’s flagship Today program on Thursday morning to condemn the “locker room culture” in Westminster, where men in positions of powers prey on young women who feel unable to speak out.

The Conservative minister, who backed May’s leadership bid and has remained supportive until now, said the prime minister had failed to use her position to espouse “the values and the standards MPs should live up to.” He said: “There has been none of that and that is unacceptable. She is failing our democracy.”

Since the crisis began last week, MPs have become increasingly alarmed by what they now see as a runaway train, unchecked by a leader who is unable to take control.

Like Gordon Brown during the expenses scandal, May has come up with a bureaucratic fix — a cross-party “independent grievance procedure” to give young men and women the confidence to complain.

Whatever the merits of such a reform — and it is widely seen as a sensible step forward — Conservative MPs said they despaired at what they saw as a clearly inadequate response.

“She needs to be out there owning it,” one former minister said. “She should be out there saying I’m a woman and I’m fed up with it.”

May’s inability to connect has become a running theme of her premiership.

During the general election campaign earlier this year she was forced to deal with two terror attacks that most commentators — and Labour MPs — felt should have played to her strengths as a security-conscious former home secretary.

On both occasions though, she returned to her modus operandi — hard work, tough words and formality. The emotional leadership was left to others — Amber Rudd, the home secretary, was asked to attend the vigil in Manchester for the victims of the suicide bombing while May returned to London to chair an emergency Cobra committee.

According to those in Downing Street at the time, May’s priority was to ensure she was on top of the unfolding situation. Little was said on social media and the only major interaction with the public was through formal statements on the steps of No. 10.

As with the bureaucratic solution to the sexual harassment scandal, the response was not without its merits, even her critics in the party admit. She is a serious woman doing a serious job. But what her opponents question is her ability to lead when the situation demands it.

Flat-footed

After the election, the furious reaction to her flat-footed response to the Grenfell Tower disaster — in which at least 80 people were killed in a night-time fire in a tower block — came close to toppling the government, Tory MPs felt at the time. She visited the scene but held a private meeting with emergency responders rather than speaking directly to residents and families of the dead.

David Cameron’s former director of communications, Craig Oliver, was blunt in his assessment on Twitter Thursday. “A Cabinet minister described Conservative MPs as being in ‘a fragile boat.’ As events buffet them, the metaphor feels increasingly apt.”

Even May’s closest friends despair. According to one Conservative MP, the prime minister hosted a dinner with friends last month. One of those at the dinner told the MP after: "She was completely different in private. Why isn’t she better at all this stuff?”

“She is given the chance to have a reshuffle because of a scandal about male abuse of power and what does she do? She promotes two men" — Formerly loyal supporter

The MP said it was partly a generational issue. “To make it in politics when she came in in 1997 you almost had to stop being a woman.” But her approach is also a symptom of her own closeted personality, the MP said.

“It’s a bit like Queen Victoria who didn’t outlaw lesbianism because she didn’t believe it existed. Theresa is stunned by all this stuff in part because it just wouldn’t have been in her scope of imagination.”

According to the Sunday Times, May’s reaction when she was first confronted with the allegations was to ask: “Why can't they just do their jobs?”

Her appointment of Gavin Williamson, the 41-year-old former chief whip, as the new defense secretary is seen as a particularly striking example of the tin ear which is infuriating her colleagues.

“She is given the chance to have a reshuffle because of a scandal about male abuse of power and what does she do? She promotes two men,” said one formerly loyal supporter. “It’s a reshuffle for the fixers.”

Highly influential behind the scenes, Williamson’s role in his own advancement has particularly incensed Tory MPs. “Who had the job of telling Theresa there were other problems with Michael [Fallon]? Who said he would need to go? And who benefits from all of it?”

May’s former chief of staff Nick Timothy tweeted that the idea Williamson manipulated the scandal to appoint himself was “absurd.”

But the image has stuck. May was presented with an opportunity to bend events to her will. Instead, her government is being bent out of shape by events.