Amber Rudd’s role in Boris Johnson’s ‘dream team’ was over before it began – how long will her next endorsement last?

Where the road to Damascus will take her once she gives up on Michael Gove is anyone’s guess. But it would be lovely if she lined up behind Rory Stewart for a quarter of an hour, just to cheer him up

Rudd apparently wearied of Johnson when they dined together on Thursday and she couldn’t persuade him to abandon his commitment to pursuing a no-deal Brexit (Getty)

If you have a morbid terror of the number 13, try to stay calm. The scorecard will tick beyond that on its madcap march soon enough.

If, on the other hand, you have a phobia about battalions of ego-frenzied Tories parading their god given gift for gibbering nonsense, be more afraid than ever.

The only treatment for that, according to an article in The Lancet, is a controlled coma. The piece considers alternatives, but concludes that, in a milligram less than a lethal dose, diazepam will be no more effective than Rory Stewart’s opium pipe.