Theresa May - Where are we Bound?

Well, as we know, Theresa May became our new (unelected) Prime Minister on the 13th of July. She made an impressive speech after visiting the Queen which will probably go down as a classic of "One Nation Toryism", in which she highlighted many of our social problems and iniquities, and pledged to fight against them. She closed her speech by saying: "Together, we will build a better Britain." Well, that is a laudable sentiment and, for once, I will not lapse into cynicism (I'll leave it to others). What is of interest to me here is the way in which many people reacted to that speech. One friend of mine commented that, having voted Labour all his life, he could almost find himself becoming a Tory. Other friends of mine commented favourably on the speech on social media. Given the farcical but internecine conflicts in the Labour Party over their leadership contest and other issues, the PM's words, by contrast,  rang out with clarity, sincerity and a clear desire for unity.

I have to say that, personally, I quite like Theresa May - or at least her public persona. When she was Home Secretary, I remember her being almost reduced to tears when speaking of letters she had received from people suffering from anti-social behaviour on council estates - an issue that seems to have been dropped by the media in recent years. In October, 2002, she also, to her credit, drew the attention of the Tory party to the fact that they were seen as "The Nasty Party" (what should we call them now?)

All well and good, but one inspired speech and a perceptive comment do not necessarily make for an effective Prime Minister. After all, President Obama promised military cutbacks upon election to the White House - the opposite happened. The fact is that the most idealistic and well-intentioned of politicians are constrained by political, economic, social and, sometimes, military/security factors that militate against their programmes, however exasperated those politicians become.

Already, the PM has caused dismay by her closure of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change, a move which Ed Miliband has described as "plain stupid".

There are also concerns about her stance on immigration, for which she has drawn a lot of flak in the past. One of her suggestions was to enforce the expulsion of foreign students as soon as they graduated as a measure to curb migration. She also spearheaded a move to take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights,  which is a respected safeguard on immigration and other issues. Besides this, she has upset many rank and file police officers by her talk of police reforms and aroused the ire of human rights groups by her advocacy of "The Snooper's Charter", which would bring mass surveillance into British lives.

Her main headache, however, will be the departure of Britain from the EC - "Brexit", to which both she and David Cameron were opposed.Since the referendum on June 23, there has been much confusion about what will happen and how. And, as we know, the leaders of the "Leave" campaign have disappeared from the scene, leaving us with uncertainty, anger and an increase in hate crime. Personally, I would favour scrapping the results of that stupid referendum, but May has said her plan is to carry out the will of the majority.

"Quartz" comments:

"(“Brexit means Brexit,” she has said, an extraordinary aphorism in which an invented word is said to denote itself.)"

We should take warning from this. As Yvette Cooper said in The Guardian back in July:

"May believes in justice, but not in social justice; in individual enterprise, but not in uniting communities. Rightly, her Modern Slavery Act promised a crackdown on people smugglers. Wrongly, it left out protection for domestic workers from slavery. Rightly, she criticised poor standards in policing. Wrongly, she destroyed the neighbourhood policing that builds community cohesion and prevents crime. Rightly, she talks about entrepreneurship and getting on in life. Wrongly, she never challenges the deep inequalities and poverty that hold people back."

Owen Jones develops these criticisms by pointing out, in a highly critical short video you can watch HERE, that Mrs May has not always supported rights for gay people and other minorities. He also (surely rightly?) slams her decision to appoint Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.

All fair criticism, but I would like to defend Mrs May on one issue. On July 18, the House of Commons debated the retention of Trident. As recorded by many media sources, the following exchange took place between the PM and an SNP MP:

"SNP MP George Kerevan said: "Is she prepared to authorize a nuclear strike that would kill hundreds of thousands of men, women and children?"

Mrs May relied simply: "Yes".

The response of many people and political groups was incandescent rage. Mrs May was portrayed as a bloodthirsty successor to Dr Strangelove. I understand this, but really, I think it misses the point. If we were at war, and faced by an enemy who sought to invade or destroy us, I would expect my government to take all measures necessary to protect us. This does not mean I would support a nuclear or non-nuclear strike for no good reason, and, to be fair, neither would Mrs May. She went on to say that there was no point in having a deterrent if you were not prepared to use it. In those strictly narrow terms, I would agree. In other words, I think that the Left/SNP/Greens/CND members shot themselves in the foot by their over-reaction. Interestingly, the dust has settled on that debate.

Anyway, off we go sailing into the unknown, with Theresa May as our captain. Let's all watch out for icebergs...