Simon Heffer

To all intents and purposes, Theresa May might as well not exist

To all intents and purposes, Theresa May might as well not exist

I was being fed and watered in the House of Lords by a Tory peer some years ago when he registered surprise at the arrival in the room of one of his colleagues. ‘I didn’t just think he was dead,’ said my host, ‘I even thought I’d been to his memorial service.’ I have been having similar thoughts about Mrs Theresa May, chairman of the Conservative party, following her appearance on Sir David Frost’s programme on BBC television last Sunday morning. It is a very long time since Mrs May was on my radar, and I suspect she has never even been the slightest blip on that of the millions of people who must be persuaded to vote Tory at the next election.

Sir David questioned Mrs May about her working relationship with Mr Duncan Smith. As he, she and all the rest of us might have expected, Mrs May claimed that all was fine and, indeed, dandy. I was sorry to hear this. Mrs May has been doing such a graphically appalling job as chairman of a party that is still, whatever the occasional appearances to the contrary, in a desperate state that Mr Duncan Smith ought to be making her life a misery. But then if her full inadequacy had not been manifest when Sir David so charmingly and politely questioned her, it will be by now.

Most of you, by the time you read this, will know the result of the by-election being held in Brent East on Thursday 18 September. At time of writing, we are being warned to expect the Tories to come third. The excuses are already in place. The Tories never stood a chance. The Lib-Dems, who were favourites to win, specialise in this sort of victory.

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