Tory MPs have Badenoch’s back as they slog it out with former Post Office chair | John Crace

Henry Staunton refuses to back down as he gives evidence to the business select committee

So who do you trust? Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, whom she and many other MPs believe will be the next leader of the Tory party? A woman whose loyalty extends primarily to herself. Even her family takes contemporaneous notes of any meeting just in case they find that memories differ. The corridors of Westminster are littered with enemies and allies whom she has stabbed in the back.

Or Henry Staunton, the former chair of the Post Office who was sacked by Kemi in January? A man who has made a career out of being made chief executive or vice-chairman of many companies about which he knows comparatively little. Of whom the worst that can be said is that – like many men of his acquaintance – he has been consistently promoted above his abilities. Being “a thoroughly good chap” counts far more than competence in Staunton’s world.