When Dame Inga Beale was appointed chief executive of Lloyd’s of London in 2014, she became the first woman and openly bisexual person to head up the 330-year-old insurance market. But after attempting to introduce initiatives to encourage big insurance companies to improve their diversity and inclusiveness, she faced a swift backlash.

She received emails and letters containing sexist and homophobic abuse. Beale told TheSunday Times that one letter even warned: “You don’t deserve to be on the planet; you should go and die.”