F irst, we witnessed the emasculation of HM Treasury as the engine room of government, in favour of the detested, shambling, muttering dictatorship of Dominic Cummings. Then, in a tragi-comic diversion, the recruitment, and rapid resignation, of a Downing Street “weirdo” adviser, Andrew Sabisky, who had written controversially about race and intelligence.

Swiftly following the brief Sabisky affair came serious allegations of the bullying of senior officials by Priti Patel, the home secretary. Now, as The Independent reports, civil servants at the Department of Health are expressing deep scepticism about the government’s pledge to “recruit” (to use a broad term) 50,000 nurses.