Theresa May hardly needs another row this week after losing one of her special advisers as a result of last week’s bust-up. But the occupational hazard of running the Home Office is that one of its agencies can suddenly spin out of control, and you’re the one left trying to end the chaos.
The Passport Office is always a prime candidate for this sort of trouble, not least because its operations are the kind of things that, when they go wrong, can really upset voters. Not much point in pontificating from the dispatch box about budgets for hardworking families when they find they can’t take the holidays they’ve been working hard to afford.
Whether this at all damages May – who tends to emerge from Home Office rows unscathed – depends on whether the latest batch of delayed applications is down to the Passport Office being disorganised or a ministerial decision causing problems.
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