Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill are said to have become gatekeepers inside 10 Downing Street, controlling access and advice given to Theresa May

It must have seemed at the time like an innocent enough sentiment.

As the former shadow chancellor Ed Balls left Strictly Come Dancing last November a press officer working in Downing Street tweeted: “Alas it’s over. Well done Ed Balls for getting this far & entertaining us.”

Robin Gordon-Farleigh knew he was being followed by Theresa May’s chief of staff Nick Timothy. What he could not have predicted was his reaction.

Sir Ivan Rogers, Britain's ambassador to the EU resigned in January, believing he had been frozen out by Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill THIERRY ROGE/EPA

Mr Timothy called aside the prime minister’s principal private secretary, Simon Case, and demanded that Mr Gordon-Farleigh be reprimanded for breaking the rules on civil service neutrality. By the time the reprimand reached Mr Gordon-Farleigh it was more of a warning: “Be careful, they’re watching everything you do.” A few months later Mr Gordon-Farleigh