The Foreign Secretary knows that she is being played off by them against the Chancellor. They know she knows. And she knows they know she knows.
The centre isn’t where he or ConservativeHome or anyone else wants it to be. It’s where it is – “Far From Notting Hill”.
This account of three and a half years as a special adviser confirms how trivial and transitory the role can be.
If the Prime Minister doesn’t have confidence in his most senior Ministers, it’s impossible to see how anyone else can.
It may be necessary, given the Coronavirus, and could even work. But Britain has a long, long record of state spending failing to turbo-charge growth.
If Downing Street doesn’t grip the campaign against Patel by allies of her Permanent Secretary and others, it may spiral out of control.
It is straining to be bigger and better, and see further, faster. But the lesson of the story is that it can’t see everywhere at once.
A Black, sorry, Red Swan may carry him off. But in less than six months he has rescued the Conservatives, and is on the brink of delivering the referendum mandate.
This week, the Party has a chance to turn Brexit, a trouble-plagued leadership, and directional uncertainly from problems into an opportunity.
As a split in the Conservative Party finally threatens for real, May must explain why and when she backed off mutual recognition.
This ambitious 39-year-old is grappling valiantly with the Leveson problem, and no one does a better digital transformation.
Plus: That customs Cabinet committee meeting – and luck & chance in politics. How Zephaniah has fallen. Javid v Khan. And: my local elections overnight marathon.
The new Home Secretary won’t toe the Downing Street line as his predecessor did. His appointment is thus a sign of weakness at the top.
May kept astride the Home Office tiger through relentless, grinding work and fearsome, dedicated SpAds. If Rudd can’t do the same, she risks being eaten.
P.S: Only one Tory Prime Minister in recent years was “taken down” by Tory MPs. Clue: it was neither Major nor Cameron.