Let May govern

It used to be said that loyalty was the Conservatives’ secret weapon. While other parties might descend into internecine warfare, the Tories would always, when circumstances demanded, show just enough respect for their leader. The words ‘loyalty’ and ‘Conservative’, -however, lost their natural affinity during the Major years. Since then, to borrow a phrase from the left, the leadership of the party has descended into a state of permanent revolution. After the failure of her general election campaign, Theresa May seems to have become a tortured prisoner of her cabinet.

Talks of leaks are exaggerated. It’s quite true that our political editor, James Forsyth, was able to disclose a row inside cabinet over Philip Hammond saying that driving a train was so easy ‘even’ a woman could do it. He did not come by this because ministers were queuing up to spill the beans to journalists: had this been the case, the story would not have taken five days to emerge.