Boris is first among equals, not emperor

RECEIVED wisdom among political commentators had it that yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle would be a muted affair – which should have set alarm bells ringing. Instead, we were treated to an example of bloodletting worthy of Boris Johnson’s beloved Rome.

The severed head? That of Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer, sliced off after he refused No10’s demand that he fire all his advisers. A blunder by the Prime Minister, who underestimated Mr Javid’s resolve? Or a contrived sacking – an ultimatum the Chancellor was bound to reject?

Whatever the truth, the PM has ruthlessly stamped his authority on Government.

He can argue that his mandate, secured with an 80-seat overall majority at the General Election, is clear: To correct the historic imbalance in infrastructure spending between North and South and bring hope to neglected communities. Such a task requires a unified Cabinet and, centrally, a good working relationship between No10 and No11.

That said, this desire for cohesion should not translate into a divisive, autocratic style of government. Mr Johnson’s mercurial henchman-in-chief Dominic Cummings has already displayed a taste for strong-arm tactics – and anti-aspirational policies such as the mansion tax.

Traditionally, the Chancellor has acted as a counterweight to the Prime Minister, applying the brakes when hubristic spending promises threaten the national finances. But the Chancellor of the Exchequer must be signed up to the project.

Mr Johnson believes that if he is to win a second term courtesy of the former Labour voters he wooed in December he must spend. So he has no time for the cautious tactics that marked Philip Hammond’s relationship with Theresa May.

Rishi Sunak, Mr Javid’s talented lieutenant at the Treasury, and now his successor, may have to present his first Budget in a month’s time.

Fiscally conservative, he will have the difficult task of marrying the Prime Minister’s ambitions with economic reality. It will be a test of his mettle and he will need to show he is not a neutered tenant of No11.

Mr Cummings is an iconoclast, intent on dismantling a sclerotic system stifling our national potential. But this should not involve turning the Treasury into an uncritical satellite of an all-powerful No10.

‘If you must break the law, do it to seize power,’ said Julius Caesar. Mr Johnson has dented the unwritten law that the Treasury is a semi-independent fiefdom, and in doing so has gained power by brute force. But it must lead to good government.

The Prime Minister is primus inter pares – first among equals. Not an emperor.