Forget Michael Gove or the rise of the Remainers. The reshuffle is about the march of the moderates

Michael Gove will get all the headlines, and there is something darkly ironic about his appointment. Theresa May may be fighting for her political life, but even her 11th hour manoeuvres have a sharp edge. She’s been forced to bring back a man she sacked, but her choice of job is lovely: Michael Gove of the Leave campaign now gets to tell British farmers how life will be better when farm subsidies end.

Meanwhile, Gove replaces Andrea Leadsom, another Leaver, who as Commons leader now gets to oversee the speeding legislative freight train that is the Great Repeal Bill, not to mention seven or eight other bits of Brexit legislation – all without a Commons majority.  In short, Mrs May is repeating the gambit of her first Cabinet making last year: she’s making the Brexiteers own Brexit. So yes, she’s weak, but she’s playing her poor hand with a bit verve.

But for me, the important story of the non-shuffle is the continuation of another theme of May’s pre-election approach: the march of the moderates.  Damian Green is now de facto deputy prime minister.