Paul Waugh cites the Sutton Trust’s analysis of Prime Minister Theresa May’s new cabinet.

The demon butcher of Downing Street got to work early. But Theresa May’s knife skills were not deployed in No.10 itself, the new Prime Minister preferring to do the bloody work behind closed doors over in her huge Commons office.

Away from the TV cameras and the yells of producers, she started the day soon after 9am with one-on-one meetings with those surplus to requirements. 

Former Education Secretaries Michael Gove and Nicky Morgan arrived at her oak-panelled office as Cabinet ministers, but left as ordinary backbenchers. Theresa Villiers, Oliver Letwin and John Whittingdale were also dispensed with privately, and spared the long walk of shame up and down Downing Street.

The merry meritocrats in May’s new team ensured a Cabinet with the lowest number of privately educated ministers since Attlee’s 1945 government, the Sutton Trust charity reported.

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