Whitehall is telling ministers that this is a ‘caretaker’ government and so, by convention, cannot take decisions. This is not correct. A caretaker government is one in which an acting prime minister is in charge following a resignation. But Boris has not resigned: he has merely said that he will resign once his party has chosen a new leader. Until then, he remains Prime Minister. Obviously it would be wrong for him to introduce policy changes which would commit his successor, but officials should not twist convention to prevent ministers from using their usual discretionary powers in individual cases. This bogus invocation of propriety is related, I think, to the anti-Boris rhetoric which implies that his continuation in office is unethical. In fact, it is customary. Any change in that custom would give yet more power to officials over elected politicians.
I told an American friend about the problems Penny Mordaunt has recently encountered over Greater, Britain after The Storm, the book she co-authored last year. ‘Do you think she has read it?’ he asked. It did not seem a crazy question. Quite a lot of books boast the authorship of a famous person but are actually composed by a ghost or the co-author. The sports personality, film star, tycoon or politician being promoted may lack the time or ability to write the wretched thing and may sometimes feel little inclination to read it. In the politician’s case, the purpose is to identify yourself with the future and the electorate and be interviewed on non-political programmes and invited to speak at literary festivals. No doubt Ms Mordaunt had perused her own work, and perhaps reminded herself of what was in it as she flew to Hay in a helicopter with her co-author, Chris Lewis.
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