Time was when Theresa May ran such a tight ship as Prime Minister that even so much as talking off the record to journalists was seen as a bit of a risk for a Cabinet minister to take. But post-election, the Prime Minister has so little authority that a number of things that previously seemed impossible are now quite safe.
The first is that it’s pretty much fine for a Cabinet minister to take a different stance to his or her colleagues. The main risk is not to the minister themselves but to the Prime Minister as her government appears to have five different stances on every important matter, with public sector pay being the most notable example. There are the flagrant examples, such as Andrea Leadsom turning up at the site of the Grenfell disaster without telling Number 10 that she would be paying a visit, and then there are the obvious splits that no-one is taking any care to hide any more, such as that between Downing Street and the Treasury.
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