Inadvisable

When Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, then his advisers included two Lib Dem Peers and two Conservative MPs.

They continued to vote with their respective parties.

It could be argued that, as a Conservative advising a Conservative Government, Lord Heseltine ought to be expected to toe the party line.

But would that have applied to any other issue?

Heseltine has been removed from five positions that took up three and a half days of the working week, necessitating an office and a Private Secretary in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Who will now be doing that work, in fields supposedly dear to the heart of our One Nation Prime Minister?

As by threatening to withdraw the Whip from any rebels when these mattered returned to the Commons, thereby confirming that she did not really have the votes there, so by sacking Heseltine in order to placate people who were in any case always going to despise her, the Prime Minister has demeaned herself.