She made it immediately clear that she would respect the referendum result – understanding that any attempt to ignore, frustrate, or dilute the largest ever tally of votes in British history risked undermining public faith in democracy for good.

She understood that the vote for Brexit was partly a vote for a fairer Britain – in which politicians like her needed to strive harder to protect the casualties of our "multigeddon" era, when those with least margin for error are simultaneously hit by huge economic, security, technological, and (too often forgotten) familial change.

Then, in appointing the civil libertarian David Davis, with whom she had repeatedly clashed during her time as an authoritarian Home Secretary, she communicated her openness to deploying the most talented team possible to maximize Britain's chances of success in what will be our country's most difficult negotiations of the post-war era.