Prime ministers are never more powerful than just before a cabinet reshuffle. Ministers fall over themselves to be helpful, hoping to secure their position or move up the pecking order. Backbenchers start hailing the Prime Minister’s every decision as an act of firm and enlightened leadership. This spectacle is underway ahead of next month’s well-trailed reshuffle, which has already been dubbed the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’ by Whitehall wags.
It is not just the reshuffle that is propelling Boris Johnson towards the peak of his political powers. He has an 80-seat majority at his back. And with all the talk of reform, government departments are similarly keen to demonstrate their worth to No. 10.
This new, more obliging approach was on full display at cabinet on Tuesday. When Theresa May was home secretary and Ken Clarke was justice secretary, she used to joke that she ‘locked them up and he let ’em out’.
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