The bitter legacy of Theresa May

Theresa May will inevitably be remembered for the Brexit farce, but it may not turn out to be as harmful as some of her other legacies.

In her resignation speech she claimed to have led ‘a decent, moderate and patriotic Conservative government on the common ground of British politics’. She said that our country was not ‘just a family of four nations, but a union of people’. We stand together, she said, ‘regardless of ‘our background, the colour of our skin, or who we love’. As prime minister she believed she had fought ‘the burning injustices that still scar our society’ by introducing the race disparity audit and gender pay reporting to shine a light on inequality ‘so it has nowhere to hide’.

But gender pay reporting and the race disparity audit have not created unity or overcome injustices. They have been the Government’s contribution to heightening the atmosphere of animosity that is the hallmark of identity politics.