I find your outlook on race interesting, in an interview with the BBC you said you “don’t like labelling people”, adding that “everybody wants to be recognised for their individual merits”. Race can often become a defining factor, no one mentions the fact that Boris Johnson is the 53rd white, middle-class man to become prime minister, but you are often referred to as the first “British Indian” Home Secretary. As a fellow Asian woman, the idea of being described as a “BAME woman” is not something I am ashamed of, but I hope that I will be remembered for what I do, not what I am, and I find the issue of being identified by race proves an uncomfortable one for me. With increasing pressure from the “woke mob” to be unapologetically proud, failure to do so is often seen as an indictment for being ashamed of your culture or heritage. As a successful and influential person, do you believe you have a moral responsibility to be more feminist, more proud, more Indian even, or does highlighting those characteristics widen the divide in the pursuit of equality? Yours Sincerely, Alice Yu Neil