‘That’s Shriti Vadera — Gordon’s representative on earth’

Margaret Thatcher’s speechwriters always struggled to get her to do the jokes. I once had a similar problem with Shriti Vadera, the former banker who will next week become, arguably, the most powerful woman with a paid job in Downing Street since Lady Thatcher’s departure.

Miss Vadera is Gordon Brown’s most trusted policy adviser and Whitehall enforcer.