Theresa May’s plans to limit both the number of special advisers and the way in which they are appointed are rather curious, given how influential and essential her own advisers were when she ran the Home Office. As I explained in the magazine recently, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill held a great deal of power in that department, and not just when it came to briefing the media. They were an essential part of the running of the Home Office and its many arms-length bodies such as the Border Force.
Yet we read today that Hill and Timothy are vetting appointments to ensure that no new special advisers will be likely to brief against the Prime Minister, and that May wants to limit each minister to just two advisers, even though she had three – Hill, Timothy and Stephen Parkinson – working for her at one point.
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