May’s final speech as PM addresses the tribalism and absolutism in today’s British politics

Theresa May used her final speech as Prime Minister to warn that British political discourse was pushing the country to a “much darker place” as she said she was “worried” about the state of politics.  In a speech at Chatham House Mrs May said there had been a  “coarsening” of debate.

The Telegraph reports that May said that “Today, an inability to combine principles with pragmatism and make a compromise when required seems to have driven our whole political discourse down the wrong path.”

“It has led to what is, in effect, a form of absolutism. One which believes that if you simply assert your view loud enough and long enough you will get your way in the end. Or that mobilising your own faction is more important than bringing others with you. This is coarsening our public debate.”

May said that as a result of this coarsening “some are losing the ability to disagree without demeaning the views of others”. 

“This descent of our debate into rancour and tribal bitterness, and in some cases even vile abuse at a criminal level, is corrosive to the democratic values which we should all be seeking to uphold,” she said.