Who is right on stop and search, Boris or May?

Theresa May’s Home Office record is normally off limits at cabinet. But, as I write in the magazine this week, when ministers discussed the government’s strategy for reducing violent crime on Tuesday, Boris Johnson took issue with what the Prime Minister regards as one of her key legacies: the dramatic reduction in stop and search. He argued that more stop and search was needed to deal with a spike in crime. What went unsaid — but what everyone around the cabinet table was acutely aware of — was that this was the opposite of May’s approach as Home Secretary.

As Home Secretary, May toughened up the rules around the police’s use of stop and search. In 2014, she said that the system was ‘unfair – especially for young black men’. At last year’s Tory conference, May claimed success.