The Great Red Box Rebellion
Furious mandarins ‘sidelined’ by May’s Brummie Rasputin hit back in...
THERESA May is facing a revolt by mandarins over the power wielded by her longstanding political enforcers, The Mail on Sunday understands.
Senior civil servants have complained they feel ‘sidelined’ by the Prime Minister’s joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill – with Mrs May’s red boxes at the centre of the power struggle.
At the end of every working day and before weekends, civil servants fill the scarlet leather cases with documents for Mrs May to review.
But a Government source has claimed officials are being rebuked if they put papers directly into her boxes, or send email files into an electronic ‘red box’ on her computer or phone – as they did with David Cameron – without first going through Mr Timothy and Ms Hill.
A source told this newspaper: ‘Mrs May doesn’t want their advice. She only seems to want to hear what her advisers think.’
The claims are denied by No.10, which is trying to quell disquiet over the influence of Mr Timothy – a policy expert known as the ‘Brummie Rasputin’ – and media specialist Ms Hill, who have been Mrs May’s Praetorian Guard for the past decade.
Another flashpoint has been access to key 8.30am strategy meetings held every weekday at No10 to set out the day’s agenda for the Prime Minister.
A senior Government source claimed the advisers had tried to bar Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, the all-powerful head of the Civil Service, from ‘the 8.30’. Officials also complain Downing Street is ‘micro-managing’ Government departments by becoming involved in ‘every cough and spit’. One said: ‘It hasn’t been this bad since Gordon Brown was in there.’
Mr Timothy exerts particular influence over policy. He helped to drive Mrs May’s plans to bring back grammar schools, announce an inquiry into the policing of the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ during the 1980s miners’ strike and launch an industrial strategy. Ministers have pri- vately expressed surprise at the way Mr Timothy has demanded a big say in all key Government decisions, likening the Birminghamborn steel worker’s son to Rasputin, the Russian peasant and mystic who ruled the Royal court before the Russian Revolution.
He makes a formidable double act with Ms Hill, a former Sky producer with news management skills, who has been credited with helping to fashion Mrs May’s distinctive wardrobe. Their joint influence has put noses out of joint in Whitehall.
A separate source said sharing the chief of staff position was causing logistical problems.
When Mrs May flew to the G20 summit in China earlier this month, an extra place had to be found on the plane so both could attend. They were then pictured sitting next to the Prime Minister during the summit at high-level bilateral meetings. The Government source said: ‘It is ridiculous everything has to pass through Nick and Fiona first. It means they have an overwhelming volume of work – so much so that they are talking about giving them their own private secretary, which is batty.
‘Meanwhile some very experienced civil servants feel sidelined.
‘It creates huge confusion. Do you clear something with one of them or both? One official said they were told by Fiona, “If Nick clears something, that means I have cleared it. If I have cleared it, that means Nick has also cleared it.”’
A No10 spokesman said: ‘Simon Case, the head of Theresa’s private office, is happy to go on the record to say these allegations are untrue. It was always intended both would go to China. No attempt was made to bar Sir Jeremy from the 8.30.’