Thread by @MattChorley

THREAD

The war on Whitehall has spread to a new front: interior design. After Dominic Cummings installed his own “Mission Control” from which to run the government, cabinet ministers have designs on their departments...

Priti Patel is kitting out a room at the Home Office as her own command and control centre with high-tech screens displaying real-time data. The new “ops-room” will be the hub of border preparations for the ending of the Brexit transition period in December.

Talking up the makeover, senior officials say the displays have been “revamped” and there are plans for Skype too.

Patel told officials she wants a “proper Ops room with live feeds” like the ones on borders that Michael Gove gets overseeing Brexit preparations.

The move has prompted speculation of cabinet ministers being jealous of the PM’s top adviser. “Sounds like the Home Secretary has got Dom-Envy,” said one Home Office source.

One Whitehall insider said: “It is a meeting room with a conference table with flipcharts and whiteboards. That’s the lunacy of the situation. I think she was expecting a Dom-style command centre, and ended up with a deserted meeting room with a few extra tables to trip over.”

Patel has been outspoken in wanting to get staff in the office.

Staff have been told to use the Ops Room so she sees them. An email to staff says: “It would be great to get staff from across the department working and using the room for discussion/meetings as much as possible.”

However, anyone hoping for a high-tech experience maybe disappointed. One veteran of the Home Office building on Marsham Street notes: “I would say that it is quite ambitious. I barely get a phone signal in that place – you have to stand in a corner.”

ENDS