One of the first things that Boris Johnson’s new chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, did upon entering Downing Street at the start of January was to rearrange the furniture. He took the desk nearest the Prime Minister’s, displacing the 71-year-old Eddie Lister, a Johnson veteran from his time in City Hall and the previous chief of staff. Rosenfield did so not because he has a particular dislike for septuagenarians, but because in politics as in economics, geography matters: physical proximity to the Prime Minister is an essential part of being an effective chief of staff. (Added to that, Rosenfield’s perch means he can see who is going in and out of the Prime Minister’s office.)
But in politics, physical proximity must also be matched by intellectual proximity: if you do not command the support of a prime minister, it doesn’t really matter how close your desk is to theirs. That’s one explanation for the sudden sacking of Luke Graham, the head of Johnson’s “Union unit” – the Downing Street group tasked with keeping the United Kingdom together. Graham never gained the trust of the Prime Minister or influenced Johnson’s thinking, and so his physical presence in Downing Street was only ever going to be short term. (This might also have long-term implications for Rosenfield, who is a widely respected former civil servant but whose politics are not believed to align with Johnson’s.)
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