Why May’s heartfelt crusade to help families will restore her fortunes

After two forced resignations from Cabinet ministers in the space of eight days — and fraught talk of more to come — theresa May’s critics are busy writing obituaries for her Government.

Such embittered articles may be premature, but there is no doubt that the beleaguered Prime Minister is facing the battle of her life.

Yet the truth is that Mrs May, a fundamentally decent woman who is utterly committed to the betterment of Britain, still has the chance to fight back.

this, though, is only possible if she seizes control of the political agenda.

that means reengaging with the inspiring agenda of social reform that she so brilliantly set out in her first speech as Prime Minister, outside No 10 on July 13 last year.

Speaking to Britain’s ‘ordinary, workingclass families’, she promised to devote her Government to looking after the interests of the many rather than just the wealthy.

She said: ‘If you’re one of those families, if you’re just managing, I want to address you directly. I know you’re working around the clock, I know you’re doing your best, and I know that sometimes, life can be a struggle. the Government I lead will be driven not by the interests of a privileged few, but by yours.’

Since uttering those splendid and heartfelt words — which led Mrs May’s reputation to surge, with opinion polls showing that she was the country’s most popular politician — that noble agenda seems to have been abandoned.

Of course, this is not surprising. Since then, the PM has suffered a series of pulverising setbacks which would have destroyed many a lesser figure.

She has weathered the fallout from her terrible misjudgment over calling a General election in the spring, the difficulties over Brexit and, most recently, resignations and crass mistakes committed by her Cabinet colleagues.

DESPITE the feverish speculation in Westminster that she is a dead duck Prime Minister, opinion polls show that many people still warm to her as an honourable woman doing her best to serve her country.

What’s more, there are two developments that ought to play well into her hands and help restore her fortunes.

first, the revelations this week in the leaked Paradise Papers that many of Britain’s superrich hide their money offshore.

for a Prime Minister who spoke on her first day in office about ‘ fighting against the burning injustice’ and that rather than ‘entrench the advantages of the fortunate few,’ she would ‘do everything we can to help’ others, the issue of tax avoidance is one she should turn to her advantage.

Indeed, this is the perfect opportunity to launch a moral crusade which can set her premiership back on course.

the vast majority of people will have been appalled to have learnt how some big corporations, superrich financiers and sanctimonious celebrities, such as the singer Bono and sports presenter Gary Lineker, have used complicated schemes to reduce their tax bills.

It is true that many of these wealthmanagement arrangements are legal, but it is very long overdue for these financial elites to be reined in.

they must be stopped from avoiding their fair share of taxes — an insult to hardworking families who are squeezed by the taxman for every last penny.

for Mrs May, whose stated mission is to ‘ build a better Britain’, there is no better chance to lead the way.

Second, the Budget in 11 days’ time offers another platform to reclaim the initiative. Not only should Chancellor Philip Hammond shut the loopholes exposed by the Paradise Papers, but he should remind the country of the tories’ laudable control of the economy and the dangers of the alternative — a country run by Jeremy Corbyn with Socialist policies such as big rises in corporation tax rises and restrictions on the movement of capital.

(the only proviso to this is that the lacklustre Mr Hammond does not inspire confidence, particularly considering that he was forced into a humiliating Uturn after his last Budget over plans to raise taxes on the selfemployed.)

there are any number of reforms that the Chancellor could announce that would be very popular with voters.

Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics at the University of Kent, has pointed to recent findings by pollsters Comres which show that ‘there is absolutely no doubt that laying into offshore tax avoidance is a votewinner’.

If Mr Hammond fails to exploit this open goal, he will be hammering another nail into the coffin of the May Government.

MEANWHILE, Mr Corbyn has swiftly responded to public outrage over tax avoidance by the rich.

Indeed, if the glaring and immoral unfairness exposed by the BBC and others with the Paradise Papers leaks continues, only a fool would deny that Mr Corbyn is on course to win the next General election by a landslide. even the greediest and most selfish billionaire should be able to grasp the many consequences of that.

In brief, Britain would have a Marxist as Chancellor. John McDonnell — who has named Marx, Lenin and trotsky as his ‘ most significant’ political influences — would seize the assets of the rich, plunge Britain’s economy into chaos and destroy the wealth of the country as a whole.

With this chilling prospect, theresa May ought to go back to that magnificent speech she made on that July afternoon and use it to reinvigorate her Government.

By defending those who are ‘just managing’ and waging war on tax avoidance by the wealthy and on corporate greed, she still has the chance to rescue her own premiership and build a Britain that works for all.