The legacy left by Theresa May from her years as Home Secretary could be summed up by a recent tweet from a despairing sergeant. He was expected to police 300 square miles of English countryside and coastline under his watch, its population temporarily swollen by hundreds of thousands of tourists, with six constables operating from three widely-spaced police stations that had escaped closure. Five years ago, twice that number of officers would have been regarded as the bare minimum strength to operate with any degree of safety.

Anyone with policing experience reading that tweet would have had the same thoughts going through their heads. What if there were a major public order incident such as a large pub fight? What would officers do if there was a Nice-style truck attack, mowing down pedestrians along a resort promenade or a high street? How many would die in the 30-45 minute interval before the force’s armed response unit arrived – and what of the ethics of leaving the general public to desperately dial 999, little knowing that there was no unit available to come to their aid? May's oft-quoted mantra that crime is down and police reform is working brings at best cynical laughter from hard-pressed officers.