Could ‘clean tech’ save the aviation industry?

What advice can I offer Alok Sharma, who took a pasting in the weekend press for his lacklustre performance as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy? While Rishi Sunak knocks up as many runs as he can on a difficult wicket with his job support scheme and VAT deferrals, Sharma is the ‘dead bat’ (in one business chief’s phrase) at the other end — accused of offering no Brexit clarity, not much personal energy and no strategy at all.

In defence of this former City accountant, we might say that his rag-bag department, operating under many different names since 1979, has rarely been regarded as an engine of British enterprise. Among 30 secretaries of state, arguably only David Young, Michael Heseltine, Peter Mandelson and Vince Cable made much impact. In truth there’s little Sharma could do now that the Treasury isn’t already doing, beyond parroting Downing Street’s line and hoping loyalty will win him a sideways move in the next reshuffle.