Theresa May, action woman

The Sunday Times p1 today reveals (to people who don’t read the Daily Telegraph or CoffeeHouse) that Theresa May is planning a Modern Slavery Bill. The Home Secretary writes about its details in the newspaper and in so doing exhibits a very peculiar trait. She appears to belong to a tiny subcategory of politicians: those who want to be known by what they do rather than what they say. The Home Office is normally a politician’s graveyard. But she is enacting reform after reform and her quiet momentum has seen her overtake Boris to become the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed David Cameron as Tory leader (when the time comes). Abu Qatada has been put in the catapault many times before: only May managed to release the elastic. Normally, a politician beats his chest (and it normally is a he) in the rare occasion that he finds something important to do.