Power couple

CCORDING to Westminster insiders, s u r v iv i n g the Home Office is a mark of Theresa May’s steel. MP Frank Field says: “Nobody survives the Home Office as Theresa May has unharmed. That in itself is exc e p t i o n a l . ” F i e l d attributes a significant part of this feat to the team around the Prime Minister, particularly her current joint chiefs of staff, Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy.

“Fi and Nick” as they are known, have worked with May since her days in the Home Office and are said to be key to shaping her vision for the country. One insider says “they deliver for May on her own terms” and another adds that she has licensed them to fight her battles for her. So who are this pair and how far does their influence stretch?

Field, who worked with May and Hill on the c ampaign to stop modern slavery, calls Hill “a class act”: “Fiona a n d N i c k ’s greatest success was navigating the political swamp when they were in the Home Office. Any false move and one of the Osborne crocodiles would have them and accuse them of building up a campaign. They also have a track record of being brilliant at running an efficient office and making sure May is briefed. It’s a technical thing but it meant May didn’t have to worry about communications. Now they are in No 10 it will have to be raised to an even higher standard.”

When May moved into No 10 she gave a stirring speech about the injustices facing “ordinary working families”. It won her widespread popularity, even among Labour Party members. This reference was significant, and it was influenced by Hill and Timothy.

“They fit the mould of the normal people that the Prime Minister talks about,” says George Pascoe-Watson, senior partner at Portland C o mmunic a t i o n s a n d the f o r mer political editor of The Sun.

He met Hill 15 years ago when she was an editor at Sky News. “Fi went to a not particularly remarkable school on the west coast of Scotland and has no airs or graces. That she’s a woman is neither here nor there — she’s just a professional.”

Field adds: “People know that Fiona is not someone you mess around with. She is like a good teacher in control of a class. She doesn’t have to be abrasive but people know to respect her.”

She is good at “gut feeling and reaction to political issues, while Nick is doing some of the blue-sky thinking. She will contribute but is much more involved in making sure no crocodile gets hold of the PM.”

Pascoe-Watson calls May’s team “a great yin and yang”. “Fi is not a policy wonk, she’s a media expert by trade, although she is so trusted by Theresa that she does have input in policy. She’s about making sure that Theresa’s agenda is met and that she is well served by the people around her.” IMOTHY, age 36, is a proud Birmingham boy who joined the C onser vative Par t y because Labour threatened to close his grammar school. He’s pragmatic to the core — he chose Sheffield University because it wasn’t too expensive. A political insider sums him up as “one of those Tories who’d describe themselves as ‘one-nation Conservatives’, priding themselves on knowing and experiencing life outside the M25”.

He is “full of policy ideas”, according to Damian Green, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, supported Brexit , is hard-line on immigration and believes in a small state, as he wrote about for the blog Conservative Home.

Neither Hill nor Timothy’s rise has been without obstacle. In 2014 Hill was forced to resign from the Home Office