Timid reshuffle has not saved Sunak from his own party

The fires raging at the Tory party, from bullying to tax affairs to public ennui, have left the impression the government is in its end game

When Rishi Sunak appointed his first cabinet back in October he was forced to, out of necessity, make compromises. After a turbulent few months, he had just taken over a bitterly divided Conservative party which looked set on a path of self-destruction.

Despite any new prime minister's obvious preference for packing the cabinet with their own people, he recognised that he had to reach out across the party if it was to have any chance of patching it up, even if only temporarily.