Theresa May’s British Nightmare

Theresa May is not the first political leader to try to pitch the idea of a ‘British Dream’ when most British people aren’t even sure if it exists in our culture. Michael Howard spoke about it in 2004, while Ed Miliband adopted the ‘Promise of Britain’ temporarily while he was trying to find his feet as Labour leader. So it’s not just the first time that a party leader has tried to talk about the British Dream, it’s also not the first time a leader whose authority is shaky has tried to talk about it.

As Miliband and Howard showed, the British Dream doesn’t seem to stick as a political idea. It certainly didn’t work as a theme in May’s speech, which turned into one of the unluckiest political nightmares in recent history. First, a ‘comedian’ managed to wave a P45 at the Prime Minister in full view of the cameras.