(no archive because FT paywall)
Theresa May, the frontrunner to become the next prime minister, has pledged to tackle “vested interests” in the corporate world with plans to put worker representatives on all main British company boards and impose tighter control on executive pay.
Launching her leadership campaign on Monday, the home secretary will call for a “bold positive vision” for a country that works for not just “the muh privileged few”.
The rhetoric will be framed as part of Mrs May’s attempt to be a “One Nation” leader and unite a country divided by the recent vote to leave the EU.
She will also distance herself from the Thatcher years by insisting that her party believes in society and communities — not just markets and individualism.
Her shift towards a fairer corporate system reflects policies adopted by prime minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osborne — and cherry picked from some of former Labour leader Ed Miliband’s policies — such as the living wage, a non-dom tax and a crackdown on buy-to-let investors.
Mrs May’s pitch to the centre ground is a risky tactic given that she needs the support of older, rightwing Conservative members to become party leader. But she sees the chaos in the opposition Labour party — where Angela Eagle will on Monday launch a formal leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn — as an opportunity to stake out a centrist position for the Conservatives.
Mrs May will frame herself as the candidate with “strong, proven leadership” at a time of economic and political uncertainty, in an indirect dig at her rival Andrea Leadsom — a junior energy minister who entered parliament in 2010. The less well-known Mrs Leadsom has won support from the grass roots, having campaigned for the Leave camp ahead of the EU referendum.
But Mrs May, who was in the Remain camp alongside Mr Cameron, will on Monday argue that she is the best leader to negotiate a deal for Britain as it leaves the EU: “Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it.”
Having been home secretary for six years, Mrs May has a reputation as a steely, uncompromising politician with a focus on trying to cut immigration numbers and taking on the Police Federation.
Today’s speech is designed to show that behind Mrs May’s sometimes chilly façade she has a strong belief in improving social mobility. She will point to the poor life chances of black people and the white working classes and say she wants a society that works for everyone.
“Rich and poor, north and south, urban and rural, young and old, male and female, black and white, sick and healthy, public sector, private sector, those with skills and those without,” she will say.
That fairness will include measures to ensure that everyone can share in the country’s wealth in a deliberate “break with the past” for the party.
Mrs May’s plans include moves to make big business more accountable by having both consumers and workers represented on company boards. The move will also affect UK-registered companies listed abroad as well as those on the main FTSE market.
Non-executive directors, who are meant to hold executives to account, are “drawn from the same, narrow social and professional circles as the executive team”, she will say.
She is also expected to announce that annual shareholder votes on corporate pay should be binding rather than advisory. The proposal follows a wave of shareholder protests against high pay this year at companies including BP, Anglo American and Shire.
The May proposals would go further than the changes introduced by Vince Cable, former Lib Dem business secretary, who forced companies to hold legally binding votes on future pay policies every three years — on top of the usual non-binding vote on retrospective pay packages.
