Remember those 'British values' the Tories wanted us all to live by? It turns out they're failing to do it themselves

Over matters of democracy, liberty and tolerance, this Government appears to be opposing the very ideals it says we share

Home Secretary Theresa May is a champion of the so-called 'Snooper's Charter' (Getty )

Earlier this year, historian David Starkey defined our national values as "queuing, drunkenness, nostalgia, loving pets, self-loathing, wit and eccentricity". Whether or not you agree with him, I'm sure that you will have your own ideas of what British values are - assuming your believe there is such a thing at all.

Exactly one year ago, the government attempted to define our values for us when it proposed a written definition of them to be promoted in all schools. This definition included "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs".

One might read such a list and wonder what on earth this Government knows about any of them. Perhaps we should consider how well the Government has stuck to its own definition of British values this past year. Consider this the end of term report, as it were.

So how has it done? The short answer is terribly. Not only has it failed to uphold these ‘British values’, but it seems to have made a concerted effort to oppose them all individually too.

It would be almost impossible to say, for example, that it has promoted democracy. The Conservatives hold a majority despite the fact that just 24 per cent of the eligible electorate voted for them and they will likely retain it as long as first-past-the-post remains. The 2015 election result was the least proportional in the country’s history with 24.2 per cent of seats in parliament held by MPs who would not be there if a proportional voting system were in place. And only 15 of current cohort of Conservative MPs were elected with more than 40 per cent of the vote. This hardly smacks of democracy, does it?

It doesn’t get much better when it comes to promoting individual liberty either. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, spearheaded the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill - the so-called 'Snoopers Charter' - which will require web and phone companies to store records of websites visited by every citizen for 12 months for access by police and security services.

Plans to introduce Extremism Disruption Orders (EDOs) were confirmed by the Prime Minister shortly after the General Election. These will restrict the movement and activities of people whom the Government thinks are engaged in "extreme activities", even if they have not broken the law. Innocent people will fall foul of the law for merely holding unpopular, traditional or challenging views and, according to reports, a court could use an EDO to ban someone from speaking in public, ban them from taking a position of authority, and restrict who they can associate.

When it comes to the value of ‘mutual respect of different faiths and beliefs’, the picture is predictably bleak. At its own party conference, of all places, the Conservatives banned a Muslim charity from holding a meeting citing links to extremism. Conservative peer and former minister Baroness Warsi said that this “further disengages and alienates a community of over three million people.” Last year, David Cameron expressed his desire to "infuse politics" with Christian "ideals and values" and said Christians should be “more evangelical” about their faith. This is hardly the promotion of a truly diverse society.

So what does the Government's failure to uphold their own idea of British values mean? In their own words, doing so ensures “spiritual, moral, social and cultural development”. Perhaps it is lacking in all of the above.