Downing Street’s growing problem

In answers to questions following his statement in the Commons on Monday, Boris Johnson let drop an interesting statistic. He said that, ‘on busy days’, more than 400 officials work in 10 Downing Street. This figure explains a lot — why so many staff there got Covid, why, after long hours in overcrowded conditions, they might want to open bottles of wine, why factions struggle for mastery and leak against each other, and why the heart of government suffers from clogged arteries. With 400 rabbits in that warren, how can most of them know the Prime Minister personally, how can they feel much esprit de corps? The numbers are four times bigger than they were 30 years ago, to little visible benefit. In her report, Sue Gray says:

The number of staff working in 10 Downing Street has steadily increased in recent years. In terms of size, scale and range of responsibility it is now more akin to a small government department than purely a dedicated Prime Minister’s office.