A legitimacy crisis loomed over British politics as we approached the general election in July last year. Research by King’s College London had found that just 24% of Britons had confidence in the British government, the third lowest among countries they surveyed, and the British Social Attitudes survey had found that a record high number of Britons ‘almost never’ trust the government or politicians of any party. As Professor Sir John Curtice put it, the public was “as doubtful as it has ever been about the trustworthiness and efficacy of the country’s system of government”.