On Saturday, David Jones, the former Cabinet minister who is the deputy chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPs, said: “David Canzini is one of the shrewdest political operators in the UK.
“We had all been pressing for a root and branch review of No 10. To be fair to the PM, he took that on board and did exactly that.
“He got rid of some people who quite frankly were not serving him well and he is now replacing them with people such as Steve Barclay, and particularly David Canzini, who people have got a lot of confidence in. I think that is going to change the narrative completely.
A Downing Street source suggested last week that Monday’s “living with Covid” announcement was the ideal time for Mr Cook, who has been working on Covid-19 policy, to seek a career elsewhere. Friends of Mr Newman have said that “the stuff Henry gets blamed for is crackers.”
There is also speculation over whether Baroness Finn, another deputy chief of staff, will remain in her role after the announcement that Samantha Cohen, a former royal aide, is to become the Prime Minister’s “gatekeeper” – a role previously carried out by the peer, who is also a close ally of Mr Gove.
PM hopes to regain backbencher support
The Prime Minister hopes that Mr Canzini’s appointment will help him to win back the support of some disaffected Tory backbenchers. Mr Johnson’s leadership of the Conservatives is considered by many MPs to be on a knife edge as he awaits the outcome of a police investigation and Cabinet Office inquiry into gatherings held at No 10 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many have privately and publicly called for significant changes at No 10 and an overhaul of domestic policies.
In 2019, Mr Canzini advised Brexiteer Conservative MPs on the “Chuck Chequers” campaign, which lobbied against Theresa May’s Brexit deal blueprint.
His appointment comes after Steve Barclay, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was installed as the No 10 chief of staff following the departure of Dan Rosenfield, who was widely criticised by Tory MPs as ineffective.
