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A Whitehall shake-up will not be the spending free-for-all that the City envisions

Comment: While Johnson and Cummings may be gunning for subtle control of the Treasury, the appointment of a new chancellor will not really change the game, says Chris Blackhurst

Friday 14 February 2020 18:53 GMT
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Sajid Javid (left) has been replaced by Rishi Sunak
Sajid Javid (left) has been replaced by Rishi Sunak

The engraving on the black, shiny door of No 10 should provide a clue: First lord of the Treasury. Down the years, the wording has seemed incongruous. But not now, not when the Chancellor resigns because he won’t follow the prime minister’s order to fire his political advisers. Today, with Sajid Javid gone, replaced by Rishi Sunak, there is no doubt who is first lord of the Treasury. It’s Boris Johnson, aided and abetted by his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings.

Much has been made in the past few days of previous prime minister-chancellor relationships. But I suspect, given their ages, there is one that is seared in the minds of Johnson and Cummings. It’s the Tony Blair-Gordon Brown axis, when the Chancellor set up what amounted to a shadow government, a government-in-exile even, across the road in the Treasury.

Until then, the Treasury had always been the most powerful of Whitehall departments. Of course it was, the Treasury was the controller of the public purse, the money. Generally, though, chancellors did as they were told, taking their cue from the prime minister.

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