We have all become accustomed to people in all walks of life abusing their power for their own gains, at all levels of community organisation from international organisations to student societies. But what we can do about this is rarely addressed. Love her or hate her, Theresa May has stepped up, and attempted to offer her own point of view on the matter.
The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life details a range of injustices former Prime Minister and Home Secretary Theresa May has seen or been involved in during her last quarter century as a Member of Parliament. From Hillsborough to Grenfell, Parliamentary bullying by John Bercow to modern slavery, May covers each injustice in detail, the steps (or lack thereof) taken by public bodies to deal with the incident, or cover it up, as well as how she believes we can safeguard our public sector from absolutism, career politicians and those who would seek to serve themselves and abuse their power.
As someone who remembers a lot about Theresa May and her premiership, this book felt like a breath of fresh air. With many politicians leaving their role and then releasing a book either praising their government or defending their choices, having a book that was detached from this was refreshing. That being said, there were definitely moments where she was praising her government in particular, but some other Conservative governments in the past few years, including Mrs Thatcher’s. But she also wasn’t afraid to criticise. In parts of the book she criticised Boris Johnson’s choices and attitudes, Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership and, most surprisingly, herself and her own choices, including her controversial ‘hostile environment’ policies and rhetoric.
The book didn’t come across like a grovelling apology or dodging responsibility, but a genuine insight into some of the major issues underlying key scandals, and how we may go about fixing them, in a (mostly!) unpartisan way. Theresa May and her legacy will always be one of question to many, but don’t let that cloud your judgement – it is a well-written book that is a genuine and insightful suggestion of how we can address abuses of power we’ve come to recognise cross-party, nationally and internationally. I would have liked to see a bit more executive problem-solving and solution-finding after such damning accounts however, and a second volume to address this may be beneficial.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life (ISBN: 978-1-03-540988-4) was published in 2023
