It is easy in the perpetual fog of Brexit that hangs gloomily over Westminster to forget that other policy areas are going badly too, much as Chris Grayling does his best to remind us. Take army recruitment, for instance. “I’ll give you a gentle one to start,” Mark Francois began when Gavin Williamson appeared before the defence committee. “Capita.”

The defence secretary gulped. The outsourcing company has not been the hotshot that the government anticipated when it shovelled £495 million its way to find new recruits. Red warning flags must fly near Capita HQ, so notorious has it become for missing targets.

The army needs 10,000 recruits a year, Mr Francois, a former defence minister, observed. “The past few years, they have got 7,000. This