Norman Baker on life with Theresa May

Norman Baker has an article in the Daily Mail today. I take it to be an extract from his forthcoming book Against the Grain.

He tells some stories of life in Whitehall that could have come straight from Yes Minister and spills the beans on what it was like to work with Theresa May:

Still, there was finally some light relief when we were all - the ministerial team, the permanent secretary and the spads - invited by Theresa to Christmas lunch. In early January. 

We duly assembled one lunchtime in the basement of Osteria Dell’Angolo, the restaurant immediately opposite the Home Office, in Marsham Street. I arrived a few minutes late and took in the room and its atmosphere of slightly forced jollity. 

To lighten the atmosphere, I told them about the jazzman Eubie Blake, who, on reaching 100, said if he’d known he was going to live this long, he’d have taken more care of himself. The others laughed -very slightly hysterically, I thought. 

A few days later, each of the ministers received a bill from Theresa for £58.74.