Oh dear. As resignations go, there has been some tough competition for the most newsworthy in recent years – from Nigel Farage’s unresignation to the entire Labour shadow cabinet’s to Priti Patel’s last week. However, up until now, Mr S had yet to come across a resignation from a job that it is unclear they still held.
Step forward George Freeman. This afternoon Labour have gone on the attack over the news that Freeman – as he himself announced in a ConHome blog this morning – has ‘stood down‘ from his role in No 10. Given that just last week Freeman wrote to Theresa May (in a letter which mysteriously made its way on to Politics Home) to warn that the party risks being seen as the party of ‘lazy privilege’, they claim the resignation is a sign that all is not well:
‘For a man who once said that the ‘raison d’ être’ of his role in No.10 was to face the challenge of renewal in office, his resignation speaks volumes on the current state of the Tories in Government.’
Only all is not as it seems. It turns out that that Freeman’s job – which he appeared to talk about in an interview with Isabel just last month – no longer exists because the policy board no longer exists. It wasn’t reconstituted after the election – ergo he didn’t have a job to resign from. Freeman has been quick to go on the offensive – claiming the furore is down to Labour trouble-making:
Labour troublemaking. I agreed with No10 in July to review the role of the Policy Board after Conference, and last week we agreed to wind up the Board in No10 and focus on my work as Chair of @ConservativePF on Party Renewal #ToryRenewal. https://t.co/XbDsUkvP4O
— George Freeman MP FRSA (@GeorgeFreemanMP) November 20, 2017
But given that at no point in the ConHome blog did Freeman even suggest the decision was a mutual one or that the board didn’t exist, Mr S suspects the Tory MP had a hand in that himself…
No 10 have been approached for comment.
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