that can burnish the image. This was supposedly the attitude Tony Blair took, advised as he was by
Campbell. To sack a minister too late, after declaring complete confidence in them, is more of an error, and
makes a prime minister look weak – many of John Major’s difficulties arose when he attempted to defy
media and public pressure to get rid of a minister, or deselect an MP – notably in the so-called “sleaze” era
with Neil Hamilton. (It was Major’s very dithering, or loyalty to colleagues, that gave rise to Campbell
promulgating his eponymous rule.)
More recently, Theresa May also probably hung on to the likes of Michael Fallon and Damian Green for
rather too long. So, most notably, did David Cameron with his own spin doctor, Andy Coulson, back in
2011 (during the phone hacking scandal).
The “shock” resignation of Sajid Javid – not a pure sacking – should also remind all concerned that the
general public tends not to be particularly moved by the fates of individual politicians, even the most senior.
In the case of Patel, rightly or wrongly, she is probably now a net political liability in her current position,
and her departure would be a relief for the government as a whole. The usual advice in such a situation is to
get a sacking over with quickly – and to get a new home secretary in place to get on with the new
immigration system and recruiting thousands of police officers.
Patel will surely become an unsupportable liability as the date for a hearing at the Central London
Employment Tribunal approaches, and she find herself having to brief solicitors and barristers about what
she did and did not do in her various ministerial jobs, and particularly in the Home Office. Meanwhile, an
insatiable media – with a few exceptions determined to ignore the whole business for political reasons – will
be looking for ever more example of Patel’s style of personnel management.
Her record as a minister at Work and Pensions, International Development and now the Home Office is the
gift that keeps on giving. She, with the media, has turned the 10-day rule into something with perpetual
force – until Johnson decides to be ruthless. Thus far he has proved a reluctant butcher, but the knives may
be out for Patel before another 10 days have passed.