The changing face of No. 10

David Canzini has made quite an impression since he joined No. 10 as the Prime Minister’s deputy chief of staff in February. He’s there not just to provide focus but to make the operation feel a bit more traditionally Tory. At a recent meeting with government aides, Canzini, a former Tory party campaign director from the Lynton Crosby school of bluntness, asked for a show of hands: who was a signed-up Conservative party member? More than half the room. For the uninitiated, Canzini pointed to membership forms in the corner. No. 10 plans to check on their progress in a few weeks.

Canzini’s approach marks a wider shift in No. 10 to try to repair the Prime Minister’s relationship with the parliamentary party. When Dominic Cummings ruled the roost in Downing Street, the question was regularly asked if he was a Tory member. He wasn’t. During that period, power was centralised and MPs were sidelined. It wasn’t unheard of for No. 10 aides to refer to parliamentarians as a pest to be ignored, if not exterminated.

When Dan Rosenfield, a former Treasury civil servant, was drafted in after Cummings’s departure, he tried to be more conciliatory, but he didn’t know many MPs and he lacked political nous. It was by no means clear if he was a Tory party member either. Now, since partygate and the threat of a no confidence vote, Boris Johnson’s survival is in the hands of Tory MPs and the approach of No. 10 has had to change.

The new No. 10 team is not just friendlier with MPs – it’s led by MPs. Steve Barclay, MP for North East Cambridgeshire, is chief of staff and Andrew Griffith, MP for Arundel and South Downs, is head of policy. Twice a week, Griffith meets MPs from various regions and counties to ask and answer questions.