Theresa may

The dawn of a new government sparks a search amongst journalists for the flashpoints and tensions within it which are likely to bubble over. Just weeks after Theresa May walked into Downing Street, the source of that potential turmoil in her Government already seems clear. And if the revelation of the Prime Minister's intervention between Liam Fox and Boris Johnson is anything to go on, it looks like tension between the two may cause some trouble for the Prime Minister over the months and years ahead. Liam Fox sent a letter to Boris (copying in the PM) in which he made a power grab for some of the Foreign Office's remit to be transferred over to his Department for International Trade.

When Theresa May was gearing up for a summer-long leadership campaign, she identified a worthy target: George Osborne’s addiction to easy money and the whole notion of quantitative easing. Rock-bottom interest rates and QE, she said, boost asset prices – and, in so doing, transfer wealth to the richest. When she became Prime Minister, the Bank of England decided to do another £70 billion of QE. We can guess that the effects will be the same as they were last time: more inflation and a surge of asset prices, making the richest even richer. As I say in my Daily Telegraph column today, QE is a magic wand of inequality. The problem is that no one understands QE, so it never gets the scrutiny it deserves.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister set off for a two week holiday in Switzerland. A favourite destination of both Theresa May and her husband Philip, the pair are expected to enjoy the fresh mountain air and go walking. However, being Prime Minister ahead of an EU negotiation can make even the most neutral of destination a complicated choice. During the referendum campaign, Switzerland was often cited as an example of a country that has got the best deal from being outside the EU. What's more reports are circulating that Brussels will get even tougher on Switzerland’s trade deals in order to set a precedent for the UK’s ahead of its negotiation.

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.

Just now, Theresa May understandably feels the need to fly to a great many European countries to introduce herself to their leaders. But one of the eventual benefits of leaving the European Union ought to be that prime ministers can mostly stay at home. The number of leaders’ meetings that ‘Europe’ generates is terrifying. It takes heads of government out of their own country virtually every working week. Being a Type 1 diabetic, Mrs May is particularly vulnerable to funny hours, exhausting journeys and enormous banquets. With Britain out of the EU, she could flourish by staying here and — as good prime ministers used very successfully to do — dominating the House of Commons. This is an extract from Charles Moore's Notes. The full article can be found here.

After Brexit, satire is well and truly dead. Now we have Boris Johnson answering questions at press conferences about how he’ll explain to Hillary’s face that he once said she looks like a nurse in a mental institution. We have an unelected prime minister who got the job largely because another woman baited her about not having children. We have Andrea Leadsom: a non-entity who is swiftly revealed to be exceedingly stupid and tactless and is then rewarded with a serious cabinet role. And we have no opposition, except Jeremy Corbyn with a leadership style entirely lacking in leadership or style. This stuff just writes itself. How can you be funny about an entire political set-up that is already a joke? And it’s a joke of epic proportions.

While many have seen Theresa May’s accession to Prime Minister as striking a blow for feminism, she has also struck a mighty blow for indolence. With George Osborne and David Cameron pushed towards the exit, those of us in our mid-30’s who are still at the thinking-about-doing-something-at-some-point stage of our lives can rest easy a while longer. This has always been a difficult age. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I will never be a rockstar, given that I am well past the maximum age for the 27 club, (at my age Keith Richards was firmly in the Swiss blood transfusion clinic). I also know that even some of life’s greatest proponents of slacking are already well ahead of me.