![Former British Prime Minister, Theresa May signing the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/09/02/TELEMMGLPICT000278806400_16936622534790_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq7t4Eljyiy6iRMFuEKY2dXA1vLvhkMtVb21dMmpQBfEs.jpeg?imwidth=680)
![Former British Prime Minister, Theresa May signing the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/09/02/TELEMMGLPICT000278806400_16936622534790_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq7t4Eljyiy6iRMFuEKY2dXA1vLvhkMtVb21dMmpQBfEs.jpeg?imwidth=680)
I always wondered whether the tumultuous period following the premiership of Theresa May would end up casting the old PM in a new light – as the last responsible, hard-working, straight-down-the-line premier Britain has had, as opposed to the machine-like, inflexible, uncharismatic and ineffectual Prime Minister most of us saw her as. Alas, her new book, Hostile Environment, does little to rehabilitate her image. I found my eyes rolling quite far back to discover that most of it is about how corrupt Westminster and Whitehall is. Apparently British politics is uniquely self-serving, with far too little interest in constituents and the public.
This may be so, but the idea that Britain is uniquely bad in this regard is nonsense. Britain is one of the least corrupt countries in the world, even after its score slipped to an all time low of 73 out of 100 in this year’s Transparency International Index. We have lots of laws that punish elected officials for abusing power for private gain, including the 2010 Bribery Act.
The real problem, surely, is the dramatic slippage in the quality of our governing class, its slide in intellectual attainment, coherent vision, and – more importantly – the ability to string a policy together. The current crop of rulers simply twiddles with laws reactively – I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what Britain’s economic or social policy is.
So no, Theresa, railing at the psychological and emotional makeup of serving officials misses the point. One need only compare the far more sophisticated politics and human understanding of her predecessor female PM, Lady Thatcher, to see how far standards have fallen. Sadly, precisely because of this plunge in political skill and intellectual firepower of our governing class, it’s impossible to imagine a politician of her stature coming along again, perhaps ever.
Theresa May’s diagnosis of the UK’s woes is totally misguided
Rather than corruption, Parliament is troubled by poor quality politicians unable to form a coherent vision and policies