The Abuse of Power? Theresa May’s new book is an abuse of reality!

The former PM’s life story is a page-turner for all the wrong reasons, writes Tom Peck. While we learn she was brought up to say nothing entertaining, funny or even remotely interesting, she nevertheless reveals herself to be rather thrillingly delusional

The England cricket team meet Prime Minister Theresa May after winning the Cricket World Cup in 2019 (Getty Images)

Theresa May is one of few former prime ministers not to have written an autobiography. Her reasons for not doing so she makes very clear, possibly by accident, in the book she has now written, The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life.

In the book, she explains how growing up the daughter of a vicar made her think she was, in a way, always an MP; always representing an institution other than herself, and that was why she grew up determined never to do or say anything which anyone else might find in any way entertaining or even faintly interesting.

Neurologists understand the human memory to work in a specific way. When a memory is recalled, it does not recall the original memory, but rather the most recent time you remembered it. It consistently lays adult life over childhood memories. Which might explain why Theresa May really does appear to remember of her own childhood: “There were times when I stopped myself from making a funny aside or what I thought was a humorous quip because it could have been taken out of context.”