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Hello, I'm Sam Holmes and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Every week, a few of our

favourite writers read their pieces from the latest

issue. This week, we'll hear from Katie Balls on the Changing Face of Number 10, Michael

Brandt on the history of war crimes, and Michael Simmons on Nicholas Sturgeon's Secret State. First

up, Katie Balls. The Changing face of number 10.

David Kanzini has made quite an impression since he joined number 10 as the Prime Minister's Deputy Chief of Staff in February.

He's there not just to provide focus,

but to make the operation feel a bit more traditionally Tory.

At a recent meeting with government aides,

Kanzini, a former Tory party campaign director from the

Linton Crosby School of Bluntness, asked for a show of hands.

Who was a signed-up Conservative Party member?

More than half the room.

For the uninitiated, Kanzini pointed to membership forms in the corner.

Number 10 plans to check on their progress in a few weeks.

Kanzini's approach marks a wider shift in Number 10 to try to repair the Prime Minister's

relationship with the Parliamentary Party. When Dominic Cummings ruled the Roost in Downing Street,

the question was regularly asked if he was a Tory member. He wasn't. During that period,

power was centralised and MPs were sidelined. It wasn't

unheard of for No. 10 aides to refer to parliamentarians as a pest to be ignored, if not

exterminated. When Dan Rosenfield, a former Treasury civil servant, was drafted in after Cumm's

...