Michael Gove, chief government whip and former Secretary of State for education has unsettled senior civil servants by ‘securing an invitation to their weekly meeting’.

Which of course is exactly what he intended. This is a classic move on behalf of a politician who wants to assert their authority over ‘their’ civil servants. He has no intention of turning up once a week or even once a month to the meeting of  permanent secretaries, he is far too busy, but is saying he may drop in as and when he feels like it to hear what they are discussing.