After months of policy blunders and with the economy deep in recession, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needed a new enforcer to help him rescue a leadership in trouble. So he called the future king.
The person Johnson wanted to hire to run the government machine, Simon Case, was employed by Queen Elizabeth’s grandson. Prince William agreed to let his aide go, and Case will take up his post as Cabinet Secretary on Sept. 9. He already has a daunting inbox.
Johnson and his new adviser face a huge task to assert control over a government sliding in the polls and a country in crisis. The ruling Conservative Party is demoralized, as is the army of officials that Case will lead. Indeed, the bigger fear among some of Johnson’s members of Parliament is that the appointment shows how the premier and his team have lost their grip on politics and whether their boss can actually reverse the damage.