He opens for Badenoch a wide field of action as a leader who can take hard decisions and stick to them.
The past week saw the parties seemingly experience a post recess spasm as if not quite sure how to settle in for what’s next. By the end of this weekend they’ll hope, they’ve come to their senses or tried to fix whatever has been jittering their own and the Westminster bubble.
Cruddas foresaw a year ago that it would be “difficult to identify the purpose of a Starmer government”.
He has an immense appetite for stories, and politicians talk to him because he tries to report with reasonable fidelity what they say.
The Prime Minister will want to avoid the trap that Gordon Brown created for himself in the autumn of 2007.
Needed during the coming weeks: a Government information campaign for older people, their families, employers and businesses.
Plus: should Patel have come? Should Mordaunt have gone? And: my predictions. What I got right and wrong.
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.
The book cites bad language on an epic scale. Is there more in politics than previously? If so, why this Malcolm Tuckerisation of discourse? And does it matter?
Whitehall has at times imperilled its reputation for neutrality, but there remains a positive ‘can-do’ attitude about Brexit. The Government should harness it.
Should we expect “overlooked” MPs to rebel?
But in his new book, he does not quite explain why she has remained Prime Minister.