Star comment: Mrs May’s downfall? Humanity
It’s no wonder Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill fell on their sword.
Their performance helped the Tory Party to the hollowest of General Election victories. It was the equivalent of a football team being 3-0 up in extra time and scraping through on away goals.
Timothy and Hill were the spin doctors who seemingly held unlimited power within Downing Street.
They apparently dictated to Prime Minister Theresa May the tone of the campaign.
And here lies the problem.
Let’s strip all politics from this and look at it on a human level.
Jeremy Corbyn appears to have transformed his image from being a member of the loony left with questionable beliefs to a charismatic leader that people have warmed to.
Theresa May has been on a journey from reliable leader respected by the nation to a figure of ridicule. She has been robotic, even to the point of her Downing Street address on Friday in which she read from a script that made no acknowledgement of the humiliation she had just endured.
This is where Timothy and Hill take the blame. Mrs May is, say friends, a dry, witty and warm person with charisma coursing through her bones. But her spin doctors wrapped her in designer outfits and forbade her from showing any humanity. It was Strong and Stable or bust.
Mr Corbyn’s campaign was a little rag-bag, slightly rough around the edges. But it was human, mistakes and all. It was devoid of the suffocating spin that held back the Prime Minister.
If Mrs May has any chance of surviving, it is time for her to show her human side. She needs to recover the trust from the overwhelming proportion of the public who appear to trust the Tories’ policies over Labour.
She also needs to show trust in senior colleagues, who include Gavin Williamson.
The South Staffordshire MP is suddenly at the very public epicentre of British politics. As chief whip, his job has been to work quietly behind the scenes to ensure the wishes of Theresa May are carried out. Now he must negotiate with the DUP.
Suddenly his ability to keep his colleagues in line is crucial, not just to the Government but to the country as a whole, with just days remaining until the start of Brexit negotiations that will dictate the future of the UK for generations to come.
