If ever you wanted to understand what Theresa May’s relationship with her top ministers is like, today’s Cabinet meeting provides some insight. The ‘majority’ of the session, which lasted more than an hour, was taken up with a discussion about the importance of the Union. Not a discussion in which any of the problems raised by Brexit for the Union, such as the problems with the land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, were addressed, but a general discussion on how everyone present supported the “most successful political union of countries that has been seen”.
Individual ministers then ‘spoke out in support of the Union, particularly in relation to the work that their departments carry out’ and agreed on the importance of their departments strengthening ties within the Union. When asked whether this meant departments doing more or changing policies in any way, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said the discussion was about affirming the importance of the Union, and pointed to the Joint Minister Committees that had been established between the devolved administration as an example of the work that was already happening.
This thorny matter of Conservative ministers recognising that they are not secret SNP or Plaid Cymru supporters and that they still agree on the importance of the Union took precedence over a ‘very brief’ update on Russia in which there was no discussion of cyber security, Montenegro or any of the other live issues concerning the country. Britain will engage with Russia in a ‘hard-headed and clear-eyed’ manner, the Number 10 spokesman said.
Perhaps next week’s Cabinet meeting will see a presentation on motherhood and apple pie (led, naturally, by Andrea Leadsom, who as Defra Secretary and a mother, is an expert on both), followed by individual ministers speaking out in support of these important things without proposing any policy changes relating to them.
Why such a pointless discussion? Well, it could be that Theresa May wanted to send a signal to the SNP in particular that Brexit cannot be used as an excuse for a second independence referendum in Scotland – though given she has said this quite clearly herself, it seems odd to use Cabinet to send passive aggressive messages repeating that. What ministers being required to agree on something they know they agree on without discussing any policy changes really tells us is that while Theresa May believe in Cabinet rather than sofa government, she doesn’t trust her Cabinet enough to have a substantive discussion with it.
Asked whether Theresa May saw Cabinet as relevant, given this balance of time allocated to the different issues, the spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister does think the Cabinet is most relevant.’ Some might wonder whether ‘mostly relevant’ would be more fitting.
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