Ed Vaizey is left out in the cold

As Theresa May’s recently re-shuffled Cabinet get underway with the big task at hand, spare a thought for those who are having to get used to being on the sidelines. There was a cross-party outcry when Ed Vaizey was axed as culture minister with MPs from both Labour and the SNP praising his work in the role.

Alas it seems that Vaizey is finding it difficult to adjust to a return to the backbench. The MP for Wantage — who is a close friend of David Cameron dating back to their Oxford university days — has been lamenting how lucky he was to once have a direct line to the PM:

‘You don’t realise how lucky you were, because I had a job that I loved but also, although I wasn’t in the Cabinet, I have known David Cameron a long time and I knew the people around him in No 10. If I wanted to push any particular area, I could pick up the phone and get an answer.’