Another week, another retreat by the Government on its policy agenda. This time it’s welfare reform – which the Work and Pensions Secretary said was the path of “courage and conviction” to save the welfare state last month, but which is now apparently disposable.

Such about-turns have become the primary characteristic of this Government. Calling for an inquiry into grooming gangs was jumping on the “bandwagon of the far right” in January until it became the Prime Minister’s policy a fortnight ago. Most notorious is the change to the winter fuel allowance, which ministers claimed in September was necessary to prevent “a run on the pound”, but which is now apparently disposable.

There are plenty more, from breaking the manifesto pledge not to raise national insurance to this weekend’s critique by Sir Keir Starmer of the phrase “island of strangers”, uttered in May by a reckless and inflammatory politician by the name of, er, Keir Starmer.

Never in the field of political history has so much been surrendered by a government with so many MPs.

Somehow, only a year after winning a gigantic majority, the Prime Minister has developed a reputation as Mr U-Turn. He repeatedly takes all the pain of........

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