[1andrew1]

This was an interesting read.

The intervention by Lord McDonald this morning was quietly devastating.

Westminster is full of people who love shouting their mouth off.

Lord McDonald is not one of them.

A former senior civil servant not naturally attracted to microphones and cameras.

A man who in his interview on the Today Programme on Radio 4 had the demeanour and hesitancy of someone reticent to be talking publicly.

But a man who felt he had no other options, because, as he put it, No10 "are still not telling the truth".

And then, his most stinging line of all - accusing Downing Street of "telling the truth and crossing your fingers at the same time".

Day by day this means ministers are being sent out with lines to take that disintegrate within hours of them being said out loud - not only humiliating for the ministers concerned but toxic for trust in the leadership of the party, and the country.

And bubbling away underneath, increasing exasperation, from the cabinet down, within the Conservative Party, of the ongoing inability of Number 10 to actually focus on the business of government, rather than constantly firefighting crises about the prime minister's capacity to tell the truth.

Senior ministers who until very recently, the last 10 days, had assumed Boris Johnson would lead them into the next general election now aren't so sure.

And even those still supportive are worn down by what they see as the persistent own goals from Downing Street, which they regard as hard, even impossible to defend.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62049696