I have been trying to think what I would do if I were in the Cabinet Secretary’s position of having to exonerate the Prime Minister from the idea, now widely held, that he may possibly have lied about the various parties held in Downing Street last year.

The obvious thing would be to bring in someone properly independent, not the police because they say there is no available evidence. I suggest Jo Maugham of the Good Law Project (ie someone who is independent, a lawyer and committed to legality in government). Then, I suggest he is given access to all the Prime Minister’s WhatsApp and mobile phone texts and messages which should anyway be in the public domain from 1 November to Christmas Day last year.

If there is no reference to any parties, and if there is no other record of drink having been ordered at public expense and no other communication with Lord Brownlow than the request for further funding which he had apparently forgotten when briefing Lord Geidt, then he could be cleared which would be good for him and for the government.

Providing of course that his records have not already been deleted as they were when he was Mayor.