[3][4] May's debut as home secretary involved overturning several of the previous Labour Government's measures on data collection and surveillance in England and Wales.

[8][9] On 4 August 2010 it was reported that May was scrapping the former Labour Government's proposed "go orders" scheme to protect women from domestic violence by banning abusers from the victim's home.

[10] This was followed on 6 August 2010 by the closure of the previous government's "ContactPoint" database of 11 million under-18-year-olds designed to protect children in the wake of the Victoria Climbié child abuse scandal.

[12][13] She delivered her first major speech in the House of Commons as home secretary in a statement on this incident,[14] later visiting the victims with the Prime Minister.

[24][25] In mid-July 2010, the second major gun incident during May's term took place in the north of England: a week-long police operation failed to capture and arrest Raoul Moat, an ex-convict who shot three people, killing one.

[29] Around 2 pm on the day of the ban, violent disturbances in Bradford between EDL members and their opponents were reported, calling for intervention by riot police.

"[36] May launched an inquiry into the phone-tapping scandal; tabloid paper journalists had been jailed in 2009 for intercepting the mobile phone messages of major public figures.

The case involved a journalist employed by former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who had later become director of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron.

[40][41] At the Conservative Party Conference on 4 October 2011, while arguing that the Human Rights Act needed to be amended, May gave the example of a foreign national who the Courts ruled was allowed to remain in the UK, "because—and I am not making this up—he had a pet cat".

"[43][44] In June 2013, May signed an order prohibiting Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, two American bloggers who co-founded the anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America, from entering the United Kingdom on the basis that their presence would not be "conducive to the public good".

[45][46] The pair had been invited to attend an English Defence League march at Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby had been killed earlier that year.

[47][48] May supported the detention of David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald under the Terrorism Act 2000, saying that critics of the Metropolitan Police action needed to "think about what they are condoning".

[49] Lib Dem peer and former Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald accused May of an "ugly and unhelpful" attempt to implicate those who were concerned about the police action of "condoning terrorism".

She said that this was partly due to the government removing red tape and scrapping targets to allow the police to concentrate on crime fighting.

[66] Explaining the change in the classification May said: "The decision to bring khat under control is finely balanced and takes into account the expert scientific advice and these broader concerns", and pointed out that the product had already been banned in the majority of other EU member states, as well as most of the G8 countries including Canada and the US.

[67] A report on khat use by the ACMD published in January 2013 had noted the product had been associated with "acute psychotic episodes", "chronic liver disease" and family breakdown.

[75] In February 2015, The Independent reported, "The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a net flow of 298,000 migrants to the UK in the 12 months to September 2014—up from 210,000 in the previous year.

MPs sitting on the Public Accounts Committee accused the Home Office of "complacency" and a "lack of concern" over its handling of the cases of wrongly deported British citizens.

[81] On 11 June 2012, May, as home secretary, announced to Parliament that new restrictions would be introduced, intended to reduce the number of non-European Economic Area family migrants.

[86] In June 2012, May was found in contempt of court by Judge Barry Cotter, and stood accused of "totally unacceptable and regrettable behaviour", being said to have shown complete disregard for a legal agreement to free an Algerian from a UK Immigration Detention Centre.

[89][90][91] May was accused by Lord Roberts of being willing to allow someone to die "to score a political point" over the deportation of mentally ill Nigerian man Isa Muazu.

[92] To strengthen the Home Office's tough stance an "end of life' plan was reportedly offered to Muazu, who was one of a number of hunger strikers at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre.

[93] On 7 July 2013, Abu Qatada, a radical cleric arrested in 2002, was deported to Jordan after a decade-long battle that had cost the nation £1.7 million in legal fees,[94] and numerous prior home secretaries had been unable to resolve.

[100] It was revealed, however, that May had been warned the year before, in July 2013, that a surge of 350,000 extra applications could occur owing to the closure of processing overseas under Chancellor Osborne's programme of cuts.

[102] In June 2014, an inflamed public argument arose between Home Office and Education Ministers about responsibility for alleged extremism in Birmingham schools.

[103][104] Prime Minister David Cameron's intervened to resolve the row, insisting that May sack her Special Advisor Fiona Cunningham for releasing on May's website a confidential letter to May's colleagues,[105] and that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, apologise to the Home Office's head of Security and Counter-Terrorism, Charles Farr, for uncomplimentary briefings of him appearing on the front page of The Times.

The assessment of the Independent Chief Inspector, carried out between July and August 2010, found that there was an inconsistent response towards applications, with some cases given extra time to prepare and others dismissed for minor reasons.

[109] Following allegations that staff were told to relax some identity checks, in November 2011 the UK Home Office suspended Brodie Clark, the Head of the UK Border Agency;[110] Carole Upshall, director of the Border Agency South and European Operation; Graham Kyle, director of operations at Heathrow Airport.

[110] A two-week inquiry led by former Metropolitan Police detective Dave Wood, head of the agency's enforcement and crime group at the time, sought to discover to what extent checks were scaled down, and what the security implications might have been.

It was then announced on 5 November by Theresa May that an independent inquiry would also be undertaken, led by the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, John Vine.