David Cameron’s decision to unveil General Sir Richard Dannatt, the outgoing head of Britain’s army, as a defence aide to the Conservative party, is a serious error of judgment. Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, was intuitively right to dismiss it as a “political gimmick” – even if he mistakenly thought it was the government rather than his own party offering Sir Richard the job.

Does the leadership of a party that expects to be in government in nine months’ time really need reminding why this gimmick is such a seriously bad idea?