Is now really the time for Johnson and Cummings to further disrupt the workings of government?

Given the upheaval in our economic relationship with Europe, the prime minister’s adviser may come to regret his latest plan

Britain’s “Rolls-Royce” civil service has its detractors, but few are as contemptuous of the mechanics of government as Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s adviser. Now, according to reports, he will be able to test out some of his more outré theories about how government should work in a real-world experiment. For Mr Cummings is going to take personal charge of defence procurement, and the wider, and even more difficult, job of reforming Whitehall and Downing Street.

Fearsome as his reputation is, this may not be entirely bad news. The danger is politicisation, but, on the face of things at least, Mr Cummings is more interested in efficiency and professionalism than in rigging the system in the Tories’ favour. Some of his ideas are ideology-free, such as melding foreign and defence policy.

That is overdue. For decades Britain’s foreign policy aims and defence capabilities have been at best uncoordinated and, at worst, entirely at odds. Perhaps the most potent symbol of this is the commission of two extremely expensive aircraft carriers, that most traditional method of projecting naval power. We know already the embarrassing truth that they may have to operate without any aircraft to carry for a time; but the broader question – “what are they for?” – has not been answered. Post-Cold War, in the age of terror and cyberattacks, they do look a bit clumsy. If Britain wants the royal navy to help the Americans patrol the South China Sea to reassure the Japanese, that’s fine – but ministers need to take account of how such activity affects our putative trade deals with some of the world’s biggest economies.