Downfall of May’s closest confidant & analysis by Tim Stanley

To lose Damian Green must have been a personal blow to Theresa May. The two MPS have been friends since university; Mr Green effectively served as her deputy. But a Cabinet Office inquiry has found that he lied about porn being found on his office computer – an inquiry triggered by an account of sexual harassment that it deemed “plausible”. The Prime Minister has always put tackling abuse at the top of her agenda. To lose her right-hand man in such a humiliating way, over so sensitive an issue, would at any other time cripple a government.

But this is the age of Brexit. The Conservative majority in the Commons is tight and Eurosceptics are nervous about doing anything that damages the Prime Minister’s authority further. There is no obvious alternative to Mrs May. Remainers fear a Eurosceptic coup; the Leavers don’t want Brexit undermined. And the decision of EU leaders to allow Brexit negotiations to move on to phase two has given the diplomatic side of things a whole new momentum. Phase two will be difficult and doubts have already been raised about Britain’s ability to get a bespoke trade deal.

But at least progress seems possible after months of inaction, and at least we know what the politics of 2018 will be about.

‘There is no real alternative; it’s hard to imagine the Tory party dropping its pilot at this stage in negotiations’

So, yes, Mrs May has had a pig of a year – an underwhelming election result, the worst conference speech in memory. But it’s hard to imagine the Tory party dropping its pilot at this stage in the Brexit talks. And the assumption that Mr Green can go and the PM can remain in power, despite how politically and personally close he is to her, is indicative of how her position has changed since the election. It’s a position that isn’t so much strong as miraculously stubborn. That said, with Mr Green gone, speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle will only increase. There has already been movement.

Gavin Williamson replaced Michael Fallon as Defence Secretary after another harassment-related scandal. But even if Mrs May’s authority has been briefly lifted by Brexit, her room to manoeuvre remains limited by it because she has to maintain the appearance (if not the numerical reality) of balance within the Cabinet. Move Boris Johnson and the Leavers will protest. Sack Philip Hammond and the Remainers will be outraged.

What many MPS are saying is: bring in someone new. There’s plenty of talent that isn’t scarred by harassment allegations and is desperate for a shot at ministerial office. Why not strong media performers like Johnny Mercer, an articulate conservative such as Jacob Rees-mogg or, to combat the appearance of sleaze, an intelligent woman such as Suella Fernandes?

Of course, the gap that has to be filled is personal as well as political. The one thing that matters more than anything to Mrs May is loyalty. To have to sack a friend will have been very painful, a reminder that wielding authority is rarely a pleasant business and the job of Prime Minister is most times utterly thankless.