Many commentators have argued that the task of the new Secretary of State is a near impossible one (“his in-tray … a pyramid of hand grenades with loose pins” as Polly Toynbee put it in the Guardian on Thursday). They have argued that the fact he has been given his new job because he is a good communicator means he is bound to fail because the story he has to tell will inevitably be one of failure.
I don’t think that is necessarily true. I do think that it’s a very difficult story to develop and to tell, but being new he has a number of strong points.
