Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem

by Tim Shipman

Hill’s abrupt changes of mind and mood did not just affect the communications department. An official working in another corner of Number 10 said, ‘Nick could be grumpy but it was Fi balling people out that would upset most because she’s very volatile. She’ll turn on a sixpence and she’ll shout at you for doing something and then shout at you twenty minutes later for the exact opposite. People who hadn’t worked with her before found that very difficult.’ Hill’s allies say this was evidence she was ‘nimble’ when events changed the game. But an MP who was fond of Hill said, ‘I love Fi, but my advice to people was, “Don’t put your head in the tiger’s mouth,” because you never knew when it would snap shut.’ This was not just uncomfortable, it hindered good policy-making. ‘Most of us in the next rank down didn’t float an idea because you were shouted down, so we just kept our heads down,’ a middle-ranking Number 10 aide said.