In praise of Nick Timothy

First, some caveats.

1. This article isn’t about Fiona Hill. That’s not a comment on her. It just reflects the fact that, for reasons set out here, I can’t claim to offer reasonable journalistic assessment of a friend.
2. This is nothing to do with Nick Timothy’s personal conduct, management style or dealings with colleagues and others. It’s not my job to judge whether someone is nice or nasty. And too much is written about this stuff anyway. If we’d all paid less attention to office gossip and more to the country we live in, we might not have got the election so wrong.
3. This isn’t about the justice or wisdom of his departure, though I’ll offer two thoughts in that context. First, it’s being suggested that Timothy (and Hill) were solely responsible for the Tory campaign. That overlooks the involvement of others such as Jim Messina and especially Lynton Crosby. Indeed, a few weeks ago, ‘friends’ of Sir Lynton let it be known that he had ‘taken charge’ of the campaign, sidelining Timothy and Hill; if you want the credit, you have to take the blame.