Bickering between neighbours is as old as time, and the inhabitants of Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street are no different. The amity that characterised the Cameron-Osborne partnership was very much the exception, not the rule.
The infamous Blair-Brown relationship (aka the TB-GBs) is frequently cited, but that at least lasted a decade and ended with a (largely) peaceful transfer of power. Lawson resigned from Thatcher’s cabinet, Major sacked Lamont, May wanted to fire Hammond and Javid quit after six months.
The reason for the tensions, creative or otherwise, is rudimentary: prime ministers and their chancellors often have diverging incentives. The former – even fiscally conservative ones – want to distribute money to biddable voting blocs and interest groups, in order to maximise their chances of winning reelection.
Chancellors on the other hand worry about concepts such as ‘sound money’ and shadowy agencies like the Debt Management Office, conscious that no one else in government much cares. And that is when the two are politically aligned.
The danger for Johnson – and something a photo-op full of smiles cannot mask – is that his senior ministers no longer view their fortunes as being inextricably tied to his. Today, it was the Treasury reportedly blocking publication of the government’s plans to clear the record NHS backlog, set to rise above six million. What about tomorrow?
Yet conspicuous disloyalty is a hazard for Sunak. As I write in today’s paper, there is a reason why so few chancellors make it to Number 10, and when they do (ahem Gordon Brown and the abolition of the 10p tax rate) their machinations at the Treasury often come back to haunt them.
It is why Brown himself liked to remark that there are two kinds of chancellors, “those who fail and those who get out in time.”
Elsewhere in the paper, Met chief Dame Cressida Dick has told officers ‘enough is enough’ as she admitted that Scotland Yard’s reputation had been tarnished by “poor conduct and nasty and inappropriate behaviour.”
In the comment pages, Rob Rinder proclaims if there’s such a thing as reincarnation, he would like to come back as “an Oyster card (well that, or Taron Egerton’s bath towel)”.
You have to check out what his piece looks like in print (pg 11). Like Keplar-47 – the solar system with two stars – Rob has managed to secure a rare (but well deserved) double by-line pic to celebrate his honourary doctorate from Solent University, Southampton.
Meanwhile, Peter York says that in her Jubilee year, let’s celebrate the Queen as our most iconic Londoner.
And finally, Australia is opening its borders to vaccinated (looking at you, Novak) tourists for the first time in two years. But if that’s a bit far for a long weekend, check out these 22 lesser-known travel adventures to try in the UK. Did you know we had waterfalls?
