The dawn of a new government sparks a search amongst journalists for the flashpoints and tensions within it which are likely to bubble over. Just weeks after Theresa May walked into Downing Street, the source of that potential turmoil in her Government already seems clear. And if the revelation of the Prime Minister’s intervention between Liam Fox and Boris Johnson is anything to go on, it looks like tension between the two may cause some trouble for the Prime Minister over the months and years ahead. Liam Fox sent a letter to Boris (copying in the PM) in which he made a power grab for some of the Foreign Office’s remit to be transferred over to his Department for International Trade. But his request that Britain’s future foreign policy becomes his responsibility was flatly rejected by Boris. It also resulted in a terse intervention from the PM – safely in neutral territory on holiday – who said she was ‘unimpressed with this sort of carrying on’.
The first thing to say about Fox’s demand is that it’s not out of character.
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