Surely Sir Gus O’Donnell, our top civil servant, would not try to shuffle off the blame for the Damian Green affair on one of his minions instead of making it clear to everyone that he was the one who authorised calling in the police? I am bewildered and bemused by the contorted version of events now emerging from the Cabinet Office. This week, two official reports condemned the handling of this sorry episode, which centred on the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green and a police search of his Commons office in connection with leaks from the Home Office. The leaks were embarrassing to the government but posed no threat to national security.

In December I reported that the idea of calling in the police came from Sir David Normington, top civil servant at the Home Office, but it was Sir Gus who gave authorisation.