Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May reiterated at the Conservative Party conference at the beginning of this month—among much else—her determination to go after big business when it misbehaves. A determination that was signaled with a series of corporate governance reforms set out in the opening speech of her campaign to become party leader. There is little doubt from the phraseology of her speech that she was referring to some specific scandals that have unfurled over the last few years: Sports Direct, the Panama Papers, Google/Starbucks/Amazon’s tax evasion, the growing gap between rich and poor. Yet, there are other, more radical proposals beyond making companies behave. In fact, much of the speech sounded like something you might expect to hear from a Labour Party leader, except for the constant lacing of jingoism.
