Perhaps, the greatest testament to Steve Hilton’s influence in Downing Street is that everyone chuckles when you ask if anyone will replace him. His role in Number 10 as the senior adviser was one he had carved out for himself so that he could work on what he wanted to. It is deliberately designed not to fit on any ‘org chart’, the kind of document that the post-bureaucratic Hilton has little patience for.
Hilton was for years caricatured as being not really right-wing. But, in reality, the opposite is true — he was, in some ways, the most right-wing man in Downing Street. Few matched him on subjects like 50p tax and labour market regulation. The Lib Dems were right when they called him ‘Thatcher in a t-shirt’. Even his much discussed dress sense was a political statement, a refusal to conform or bow to authority.
Now that Hilton is gone, three people will take on even greater influence in the Cameron court. One, as Fraser said, is Jeremy Heywood. Another is Ed Llewellyn, Cameron’s chief of staff, who viewed Hilton’s combative approach to the government machine as counter-productive. The other is George Osborne, who — alongside being Chancellor — is the man planning the next Tory election campaign.
My instant reaction is that Hilton’s absence will mean that this becomes a more cautious government both administratively and politically. But Downing Street is stressing that this is the safest time for him to take a break, pointing out that the major welfare, education and health reforms should all be on the statue book before he heads to California. Everyone, though, is agreed that unlike the last time Hilton went to California, he won’t be popping back here regularly to do odd bits of work.
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