As the Conservative leadership hopefuls jostle for the top job, Jonathan Werran asks what a change of regime may mean for the levelling up agenda

Re-entering the fray as the mild-mannered janitor to keep it steady as she goes, Greg Clark has picked up the phone to bombard his local government contact list as well as assuming the reins as caretaker in Marsham Street – alongside former old departmental hand Marcus Jones as housing minister.

But as to what should happen next after the legacy act has kept the show on the road for a month or two – who knows? The real questions will be left to the next Prime Minister and the political mandate they assign the next Levelling Up, Housing and Communities secretary. What will the next, blue-stamped official Conservative vision for local government look like? And, just as importantly, what should it look like?