As Theresa May replaced the cabinet ministers who had resigned from her government and fought off the mounting campaign to oust her as Prime Minister, she revealed her loving husband Philip supported her by pouring her a whisky and also making her beans on toast.
In times of crisis, the British invariably fall back on baked beans on toast.
Dominic Raab has been replaced as Brexit secretary by the unknown health minister of state, Stephen Barclay, whose job has been downgraded as he will only focus on domestic preparations for withdrawal from the EU, while the Prime Minister takes personal charge of negotiations with Brussels.
Amber Rudd, who had to resign as home secretary in April in a row over immigration statistics, has been rewarded for being a May loyalist and is back in the cabinet as works and pensions secretary in place of Esther McVey.
Rudd was once married to the Sunday Times’s celebrated and acerbic food critic, the late A A Gill, and had two children with him.
There has been no recall for Priti Patel, who had to step down as international development secretary in November last year. She is now out of the mainstream news, having once been tipped as a potential Tory leader.
May will face a leadership contest if 48 Tory MPs submit formal letters demanding one — so far 23 have declared they have done so.
What will encourage the Prime Minister is that the influential Daily Mail, which was fanatically anti-Brexit under Paul Dacre, has softened its position under its new editor Geordie Greig. This explains why May has given an exclusive interview to the Mail, published on Saturday, in which she described her husband Philip as her “rock”. “It’s been a pretty heavy couple of days,” she told the Mail.
“When I went up to the flat late on Wednesday, around 11pm, the first thing Philip did was to pour me a whisky, Penderyn Welsh whisky — though I do drink Scotch as well!,” she added diplomatically.
When she returned from attending Prince Charles’s 70th birthday party at Clarence House, Philip was waiting in their Downing Street kitchen with more modest fare than the champagne and fine canapes on offer at the royal reception.
“We went up to the flat for a quick bite — Philip cooked beans on toast — I think I opened the tin! He made the toast — and did the washing up! Then it was downstairs for a quick meeting and home (their property in Sonning, Berkshire) by 9.30pm so I could get the washing on and leave it to dry overnight.”
May has spoken before of her regrets she has been unable to have children with her husband of whom she spoke fondly: “It’s often harder for the other half because they are watching it and feel protective and think, ‘Why are they saying that to my wife?’ He does feel some of the hurt. We’ve been married for 38 years, that’s a long time. He is my rock. It’s hugely important to have somebody there who is supportive of you, not involved in the intricacies of politics but there to provide human support.”
