Boris's inner circle in a battle to regain control

It’s one political omnishambles after another at Whitehall — so does the Prime Minister need better advice? As factions harden and rumours swirl, Anne McElvoy reports on whether the PM is losing his grip on power

PROJECT “Reboot Boris” is the challenge on the lips of every prime ministerial loyalist in Whitehall. After the past few weeks of turmoil, many previously loyal followers and donors are worried the PM is “losing his grip” on his Cabinet. Meanwhile, friends are anxious about his fatigue: he sleeps fitfully, with habitual late nights fuelled by heavy suppers and scribbling speech lines. “Imagine all those healthy guides on how to live well with stress,” says a friend. “Then do the opposite. That’s Boris.”

Exhaustion and dropping the occasional ball come with the keys to Number 10. But as so often on Planet Boris, the effects are of Vaudevillian proportions. A lack of political grip at the centre , strained relations with the Chancellor and pratfalls in Parliament have made for a stormy November in Downing Street. “Everything is fraught,” admits one insider. The fall-out over the Owen Paterson affair led to Johnson’s rare admission that defending an MP accused of sleaze was a “total mistake”. Though not everyone was placated: “This was a classic [expletive] Boris screw-up because it was so [expletive] avoidable if he had paid more attention to the detail of what MPs were thinking and the likely course of events,” one veteran MP observes.