In the past 24 hours, Theresa May has lost two of the Cabinet ministers who have caused her the most trouble. Boris Johnson and David Davis were widely considered to be immovable, despite a number of crises entirely of their own making. The only way for them to go was by resignation, which lends them an appearance of strength.
This strength has little to do with the achievements of either minister, though. David Davis had been increasingly sidelined from the negotiation process, which does appear to have been a key factor in his decision to go, given no-one likes to be treated as though they don’t matter. But it isn’t impossible to understand why Number 10 didn’t fully trust the Brexit Secretary. He often made pronouncements about policy that were at odds to the line taken by Theresa May, and his performance over the Brexit impact assessments caused the government significant disruption.
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