What's Boris Johnson's reshuffle really all about?

“This is a mad way to run the country,” confessed a member of the government.

Whether prime ministers wield sharp knives or attack with blunt spoons, reshuffle days like this are indeed a strange mixture of bravado and farce.

Bravado when, earlier, one cabinet minister told me, “I think I’m OK,” as, ashen-faced, looking nauseous and clammy, they were en route to see the prime minister before promptly being sacked.

And farce when, as legend has it, on several occasions, would-be ministers end up jobless, because the post-it notes with their name on fell off the board. Forgotten, their career plunged to the floor too.