What the papers say: Priti Patel and Boris should go

Priti Patel could well follow Michael Fallon in making a departure from the Cabinet today. If she does leave, she’ll be the second minister to go in the space of only a week. So, is this bad luck on the part of the government? Not so, says the FT. The paper says this is a ‘symptom of a deeper malaise’ and ‘two domestic incidents have highlighted the sense of drift’ at the heart of the government. Boris Johnson’s blunder in suggesting an imprisoned British-Iranian citizen was ‘teaching people journalism’ is typical of his ‘blasé attitude’. The FT goes further though, saying that Boris ‘may be the least distinguished figure to occupy the Foreign Office since the second world war’. And what about Patel? The International Development Secretary ‘strayed well beyond her brief’ – yet so far has earned herself little more than a ‘private reprimand’. In normal times, concludes the FT, both their jobs would be ‘under threat’; but May ‘lacks the authority’ to sack the duo.