BRUMMIE RASPUTIN
Such is the bearded fixer’s influence over the PM that Tories are calling him the...
A SENIOR Minister last night voiced concern at the ‘Rasputin-like’ influence over Theresa May held by her long-standing right-hand man, confidant, spin doctor and fixer, Nick Timothy.
Downing Street chief of staff Timothy has been credited with Mrs May’s two main policy initiatives since she became Prime Minister – blocking the nuclear power plant deal with China and bringing back grammar schools.
But some Ministers have expressed surprise at the way they say the formidable Timothy is demanding a big say in all key Government decisions.
It led one to compare the bearded, Birmingham-born steel worker’s son with Rasputin, the Russian peasant and mystic who ruled the court of Alexandra, the last Tsarina of Russia before the Russian Revolution.
Unlike Rasputin, known for his
sexual and drunken excesses, Timothy, 36, is a clean-living modern romantic: engaged to German Nike Trost, he is reportedly learning German ‘in her honour’. Previously, he dated George Osborne’s aide Poppy Mitchell-Rose.
The public were given a rare – and unintended – glimpse of Timothy, who prefers to operate in the shadows, when he was filmed by a rogue camera at last week’s Cabinet gathering at Chequers. While Ministers were eagerly leaning towards the PM in rapt attention, Timothy sat just behind them, arms and legs crossed, relaxed and confident.
Significantly, he was directly opposite Mrs May, with a clear line of sight to her as she addressed the Cabinet – in stark contrast to the custom at No10 Cabinet meetings, where officials sit behind the PM. Senior Conservatives say Timothy’s role – and seating position – at Chequers was in line with the intimate political bond the pair have formed over the past ten years.
One said: ‘Before Nick came along, Theresa was a clever and attractive politician in search of a distinctive world view. He provided her with one.
‘She doesn’t make any decisions without him being involved. He has too much power for some of us. She does not need a Rasputin.’
Brainbox Timothy was on Mrs May’s plane yesterday as she jetted to the G20 economic summit. He will be at her side when she meets key world leaders.
But he is no dry-as-dust policy wonk. A master of the political dark arts and ferociously loyal to his political mistress, he was fingered in 2014 for plotting David Cameron’s downfall. The Spectator magazine said Mrs May had ‘given up’ on ‘incompetent lightweight’ Cameron. Incredibly, the magazine named Timothy as a source.
Cameron was furious and banned him from becoming a Tory MP.
Timothy’s Brummie background could not be more different to ‘posh boys’ Cameron and Osborne. His father worked for a steel company, while his mother did secretarial and pastoral work for a local school. He became a Tory aged 12 during the 1992 Election, when he was told Labour would shut his grammar school if they won. After studying at unfashionable Sheffield University, he was recruited by Tory HQ, where he immediately hit it off with up-and-coming MP Mrs May. After falling out with the Cameron and Osborne Tory regime, Timothy published a series of scathing attacks on them. Voters believed ‘we simply do not give a toss about ordinary people’, he said. He accused them of ‘selling our national security to China’ over trade deals such as the Hinkley Point nuclear power station. A passionate fan of his local Aston Villa football team, Timothy privately mocked Etoneducated Cameron, who also claimed to be a Villa supporter. Such is Timothy’s influence over Mrs May that he persuaded her to launch her leadership bid in his native Birmingham, even quoting his hero, the city’s former mayor, Victorian statesman Joseph Chamberlain, as her main influence. Mrs May’s pledge on entering No 10 to launch a ‘mission to make Britain a country that works for everyone with ordinary, working-class families’ was penned by Timothy.
Balding Timothy’s cultish reputation has been fuelled by his striking new image. Once nicknamed ‘the Midlands Tintin’, he has grown a thick beard which has made him a pin-up among some new female Tory MPs.
Within three months of Rasputin’s death in 1916, the Romanov dynasty ended with the Russian Revolution. A century later, some Tory MPs say Mrs May would last little longer without her ‘Brummie Rasputin’.