With the announcement of Theresa May’s resignation as Prime Minister, we now have a leadership race on our hands to see who the next leader of the Conservative party will be, and by default the next Prime Minister.

The race is filled with the familiar faces such as home secretary Sajid Javid who plans to renegotiate the Irish backstop – and plans for the UK to leave on October 31 whether a deal is in place or not.

Andrea Leadsom is back in the race, who is remembered by many who followed her 2016 race against Theresa May following David Cameron’s resignation when she suggested in an interview with The Times that she would be a better Prime Minister because she was a mother saying Mrs May “possibly has nieces, nephews, lots of people. But I have children who are going to have children who will directly be a part of what happens next”.

She claims to want a managed no deal exit.

Kit Malthouse has suggested, following a visit to Northern Ireland, that he would invite Americans back to Northern Ireland in order to help negotiate power sharing talks, he also appears to express some concern over the Border and the Border communities and how a hard Border could impact sensitivity surrounding issues of identity and culture.

However, it is Rory Stewart (pictured right, PA Wire)who has caused the most stir in recent days with his visit to Northern Ireland, noble in its aims. He travelled to Belfast, Derry-Londonderry and Strabane and met with activists. He has been filming his conversations and journeys as he crosses the Border with the hashtag #rorywalks. Some have welcomed his walks and journeys suggesting he is perhaps the only leadership candidate with an understanding of the Border.

A lofty take to make when Stewart claims he is walking from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland as he crosses from Strabane to Lifford.

Many in England applauded this move but those in Border towns and villages cringed; surely as a potential Prime Minister Stewart should realise that Strabane is in Tyrone, which remains part of the UK. Even a glimpse of the road markings and speed limit signs as he walked along the bridge could have indicated this. Stewart rightly highlights that for many in Border communities the threat of a hard border is not just about fears over trade and infrastructure, there are also fears surrounding identity.

The question of identity has been raised again with Stewart’s comment. Identities are formed by our surroundings; identities don’t start and end with a Border. We are all the total sum of every single experience that has occurred to us and around us.

We are shaped by the school we attended, the sports we played growing up, the kind comment from a stranger on the bus or the cruel comment made as we walked across the street. We are shaped by what we have heard and what we have seen; stories of bombs, bullets, and Borders.

There are many across the county who serve as a living history, their stories and experiences don’t start and end with a Border. No two identities are the same, it is reductive at best to say that all those who identify as Irish, British or Northern Irish form a hermetically sealed identity.

With amplified calls for a Border poll from nationalists following local and European election results we must consider that if there is a Border poll in the near future, regardless of the result how will it shape the identity of this place and its people.