Former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, has used his column in today's Daily Telegraph to warn the prime minister not to try and exert too much control over the running of the government machine.
Mr Hague commended Boris Johnson for his 'stunning' electoral achievement and said that the early policy decisions of the new government were 'on the right lines.'
The new immigration policy was 'right in principle' and the support for science and mathematics was 'excellent.' Mr Hague also offered broad support for Mr Johnson's desire to reign in The BBC and the use of judicial review.
'Yet there is a danger,' Mr Hague cautioned, 'of placing too much faith in the centralisation of power and policy-making; of a little bit of hubris creeping in; and of dismissing out of hand people who could otherwise be willingly co-opted to the Government’s objectives.'
He questioned the handling of Sajid Javid, who resigned from the cabinet after being told his team of special advisors were going to be dismissed. He also suggested that a front bench position could have been found for Jeremy Hunt, who Mr Hague backed ahead of Mr Johnson in last summer's Tory leadership contest.
It was a sensible prime ministerial strategy, Mr Hague suggested, to keep as many serious leadership contenders as possible within your cabinet, both to add strength to the top team itself and to reduce the number of potential challengers who are outside of your reach.
Returning to the overarching issue of centralisation itself, Mr Hague argued that there was only so much one man or one small team could control.
'[You] cannot possibly keep on top of what is happening across a couple of dozen departments trying to govern a complex, modern society.'
He also made the point that a prime minister can be empowered by the success of his subordinates and also, on other occasions, by colleagues who are willing to take the blame when things go wrong. After all, if the prime minister is in control of everything, then responsibility for a failure in any department will be placed at his door.
