Why is every British public service seemingly a shambles? The answer is that no one is in charge. The appointment last week of Grant Shapps to his fifth cabinet job in a year may be taken from the plot of some Ruritanian court comedy. Can it be serious that five great departments of state, including home affairs, transport, energy and now defence, have needed the magic touch of Shapps for a month or two before he passes on?
This may be the price the nation is paying for Boris Johnson’s July 2019 coup, when he sacked probably the six ablest members of his cabinet to guard his position. It was a mistake Margaret Thatcher never made.
