Incompetent though she is Nadine Dorries will survive as long as Johnson does

We do not have the most talented Cabinet of modern times. But Nadine Dorries is in a category of her own. Parliament has always had a smattering of colourful freaks in all parties but they are rarely let near ministerial office. The problem with “Mad Nad” is that her Department actually matters to most of us. “Culture, Media and Sport” are part of most of our lives. It is important that The Arts (in all its forms) , the Media, (ever more diverse) and Sport ( the new opium of the masses) exist in a well governed and appropriately regulated context. That’s the Minister’s job.

The BBC has its faults, how we pay for it is anachronistic but it is the jewel in the crown of British broadcasting and admired around the world. It needs reform, but not change driven by a narrow ideologue whose personal antipathy to the Corporation is matched only by her ignorance of what it does.

Prime Ministers have always preferred to have loyal sycophants around them but even Margaret Thatcher allowed one or two ”Wets” in her team. Johnson demands loyalty and a faithful devotion not just to him but to the one true faith that got him his job. Dorries delivers the loyalty in a rather creepily devoted way and was an early convert to the dangerous faith that is Brexit. Ticking those two boxes seems to be all that matters to Johnson who has a Stalinist approach to loyalty. Incompetent though she is Nadine will survive as long as Johnson does.