Whether you’re an orange-sucking mafioso or a leopard-print-wearing MP, surely every leader knows the adage about keeping your friends close, but your enemies even closer. Theresa May is no Don but she must at least be dimly aware of the concept, yet perhaps eager to show herself apart from the political game, it is one which she seems resolutely willing to refuse. She hardly coddles her friends, of whom she has few on the backbenches, but with every gesture she pushes her enemies further away.
First in forming her cabinet she exiled chancellor George Osborne and justice secretary Michael Gove, the former best buddies with David Cameron, the latter having made treachery his middle name. Also out were the quarrelsome education secretary Nicky Morgan, and work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb, who like Gove had stood against May over the Tory leadership.
Then this week began with a multi-pronged attack. May’s predecessor David Cameron quit politics altogether, with convenient timing given the censure he has now received over Libya at the hands of remaining MPs. But Cameron’s relationship with his former home secretary is reportedly strained, the pair not having spoken since May entered Downing Street, and Cameron feeling sidelined over the new Prime Minister’s support for grammar schools.
At the same time the supposedly impartial Boundary Commission looked to settle all May’s remaining business. Unveiling plans to abolish as many as fifty parliamentary seats, the boundary changes – meant to make constituencies equal in terms of number of votes – will see George Osborne and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn without a place to park their rears. Labour challenger Owen Smith will see his seat split in two, Stephen Crabb’s constituency will be merged with that of another Conservative, the loss of Brighton Pavilion aims to rid parliament of Caroline Lucas and the Greens, and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron’s seat will be swamped with the Tory vote. The boundary proposals should benefit the Conservatives while proving detrimental to Labour and the Lib Dems.
Poor George Osborne is so disenchanted with his lot that he has determined to up sticks. Talk of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ never seemed anything more than empty rhetoric, with extra funding for northern cities dependent on them accepting elected mayors. But now Osborne has set up a new think tank aimed at boosting northern economies, a move which will put pressure on the flagging government, which has done little to forward the notion despite May making Andrew Percy her ‘Northern Powerhouse’ minister. Osborne will have to prove his worth, but whether he picks slow rail or clogged motorway, May is unlikely to be found waving him off.
