The arid days of August are being enlivened by a broadside from senior mandarins against presidential prime ministers and their party political hangers on. It comes from a bevy of former cabinet secretaries, no less: Lord Armstrong, Lord Butler, Lord Wilson and Lord Turnbull. They have been venting their dismay at the way that Whitehall has been bypassed, in evidence to the Lords constitution committee. (Actually they did this publicly in June, but only now has it hit the headlines.)

They spoke about the decline of cabinet government and the rise of political advisers, particularly under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Yet Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair’s former chief of staff, reckons cabinet government “died a long time ago”. So who is right? The death of Sir Derek Mitchell, the Treasury mandarin who became principal private secretary at Number 10, has brought recollections of what Downing Street was like 40 years ago. Boy, was there blood on the carpet! Mitchell had served Tory PM Sir Alec Douglas-Home but when Labour’s Harold Wilson took over he brought with him as political adviser the blue-eyed, ruthless Marcia Williams, now Lady Falkender. Almost from day one it was war between her and Mitchell. After rumours that secretaries had been gossiping to the Tories, Lady F said that it was unacceptable for anyone in Downing Street to talk to Conservative MPs’ staff; that it was obvious where the sympathies of the Number 10 staff lay; and that the entire civil service was trying to obstruct Labour. She demanded a purge.