When he was 14, staying at a friend's house, Oliver Letwin broke the garlic press. The friend's mother aptly summed up the young Oliver: 'Lovely boy. As a young adviser to Margaret Thatcher he was more responsible than anyone (apart from her) for pushing the disastrous idea of the Community Charge, otherwise known as the poll tax. Good politics is fundamentally about understanding people: what makes them tick, or — in the case of the poll tax — explode. And I wonder how he felt when he saw members of Labour's front bench scarcely able to contain their delight when the tellers announced that the Letwin amendment had passed.

Source: Daily Mail October 21, 2019 00:08 UTC