{UAH} GRANT SHAPPS Dysfunctional, corrosive, arrogant, catastrophic: former Tory party chairman’s damning verdict on the team behind Theresa May
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Dysfunctional, corrosive, arrogant, catastrophic: former Tory party chairman's damning verdict on the team behind Theresa May
Her new administration's obsessive centralisation proved to be both the source of her short-term popularity and the foundation of her longer-term Achilles' heel.
THURSDAY marks the first anniversary of Theresa May's triumphant entrance to No10 as Prime Minister.
As she stood on the steps at the world's most famous front door, she pledged to work "around the clock" to give those "just managing" more control over their lives.
Her no-nonsense approach with less spin and fewer media performances felt like a refreshing change.
Her work ethic never in doubt, Theresa reassembled her Home Office team to deliver for her in Downing Street.
As with John Major and Gordon Brown before her, Theresa May enjoyed a honeymoon which looked like it would never end.
Yet behind the scenes, her new administration's obsessive centralisation proved to be both the source of her short-term popularity and the foundation of her longer-term Achilles' heel.
From her speeches during the truncated leadership election to her doorstep pledge to fight the "burning injustice" felt by too many Britons, everything in Theresa May's playbook came straight from the scripts of her leading special advisers.
Now installed in the antechamber next to the PM's study, these all-powerful figures were in complete control of access to the PM as well.
As David Cameron's chairman, I passed through that antechamber to enter the PM's study on a twice-daily basis for three years up until the 2015 election.
At 8.30am and 4pm, a brief agenda would list the four or five most pressing issues of the day.
The purpose was to brief the PM and discuss how the Government should both plan and respond to events.
The distinguishing feature of these gatherings was openness, combined with a willingness to listen and agree a common approach.
We now know that this was a far cry from what Katie Perrior, May's former director of communications, revealed as the dysfunctional, arrogant and corrosive attitude of the team behind this Prime Minister.
I am not surprised. As chairman, I had required everyone who aspired to become an MP, including a couple of Theresa's advisers, to help out at by-elections.
When they failed to campaign they were suspended from the candidates' list.
One of Theresa's strong traits is loyalty and so she lobbied me on three separate occasions to make an exception for them.
I told her that I would not put different rules in place for advisers but I would meet them out of courtesy.
When I did, I was shocked by their sheer arrogance.
At the end of the stormiest meeting I held, they informed me: "You will live to regret your decision, Chairman."
For the next few months in the lead-up to the election, I found myself fielding questions from the press about things I had never thought about, let alone done, like whether I'd had an affair.
I have no way of knowing but it could have been anyone in the Home Office.
It's impossible to know whether Theresa May knew her team or their supporters were capable of briefing against Cabinet ministers, but once in No10 their destructiveness reached new heights.
The PM is fundamentally a decent woman who is extremely cautious, slow to develop relationships and even slower to trust others.
Filling these gaps, her long-term advisers have become her heart, mind and soul.
But whereas this talented inner circle had so far provided the PM with the look of strength, their approach proved simply catastrophic in producing a winning manifesto and campaign.
The manifesto savaged business which has produced record low unemployment.
Rather than backing a home-owning democracy, they raised the spectre of your home being taken away.
Instead of backing popular capitalism, they produced a manifesto that Ed Miliband might have been proud to call his own.
Devoid of a vision for a brighter future, our manifesto literally dared our supporters to vote for a lengthy list of punishments.
A well-run election campaign sees key individuals getting on with the task.
But this time, Conservative HQ was blocked from getting on with the job.
A year ago, it all felt so different.
Centralised command and control had made Theresa May look like a modern-day Boudica.
Yet now, as the PM enters her second year in office, she faces the reality that an unforced snap election has reduced her reach and power.
During year one, and with a small majority, countless of her own MPs were left excluded and bemused, not having exchanged even a single word with the PM.
During year two, Theresa May will need to operate a completely different model to remain in power.
She must throw open Downing Street to welcome innovative ideas, listen to business and make better use of the party's broad talent in parliament and further afield.
Trusting others and sharing power beyond a tiny Praetorian Guard may not be her instinctive approach, but doing so now could still help her go beyond just about managing the year ahead.
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