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The resignation of Sajid Javid has created Boris Johnson’s biggest political crisis since the election. The loss of his most experienced senior colleague, apart from Michael Gove, is a blow

for the Prime Minister. It suggests that relations between these Downing Street neighbours have been worse than anyone suspected. As a potential rival on the back benches, Javid will now be

a focus for dissent. And the manner of his departure has given the indelible and damaging impression that an unelected adviser, Dominic Cummings, is more powerful than the Chancellor of the

Exchequer.  So does this bolt from the blue mean that the reshuffle has been an unmitigated disaster? Not necessarily. If trust between Javid and Johnson had indeed irretrievably broken

down, it was better for the Government that the former should go sooner rather than later. The swift appointment of Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary, should ensure a degree of continuity:

Sunak and Javid had been working closely together on the Budget. But Number Ten will ensure that the priorities in that package will be the Prime Minister’s. The last time a Chancellor

resigned in comparable circumstances was Nigel Lawson in 1989. It dealt a fatal blow to Margaret Thatcher’s leadership. Then there was a great issue at stake: whether or not Sterling should

shadow the Deutsche Mark, as Lawson believed, or the Bank of England should follow an independent exchange rate policy, as Mrs Thatcher’s economic adviser Sir Alan Walters had persuaded her.

  Then, as now, the rivalry between the Treasury and Number Ten boiled down to a row about advisers. But this time the question is not whether the Prime Minister should solicit economic

advice from an expert rather than rely solely on her Chancellor, but whether the latter should be forced to rely on a team of special advisers appointed by Number Ten. The balance of power

has shifted, it would seem decisively, away from the Chancellor of the Exchequer and in favour of the First Lord of the Treasury, Boris Johnson. It is now being suggested by some

commentators that Sunak will lack the authority to resist pressure from an all-powerful Downing Street machine, led by Cummings, to loosen fiscal discipline or even abandon limitations on

spending. Lord Macpherson, a former Treasury Permanent Secretary during the Cameron era, has issued one of his jeremiads, significantly quoting Keynes on HM Treasury as “an essential bulwark

against overwhelming wickedness”. “Prime Ministers who ignore [the Treasury] generally end up regretting it.” There is, however, good reason to suppose that Johnson did not expect Javid to

resign. If he had done, it is hard to believe that he would have risked the collateral damage that such a confrontation was bound to inflict on the standing of his Government. The notion

being peddled by Left-wing pundits that Cummings has a master plan to make Boris into some kind of dictator belongs to the realm of conspiracy theory. What is undoubtedly true, however, is

that this spectacular bloodletting, with half a dozen Cabinet ministers replaced at one fell swoop, has been reminiscent of the decision to withdraw the Tory whip from senior diehard

Remainers last September. Boris the teddy bear has been replaced by Boris the Terrible. He still wants to be loved, but he knows he also needs to be feared.  This week has been a parting of

the ways for many Conservatives. The HS2 decision dismayed those who hoped for a different approach to environmental protection and public spending. Now Javid has gone: too proud to bend to

the will of a man for whose privileged background, character and achievements this former Wall Street whizz-kid may have limited respect. Johnson may now feel as though he is master of all

he surveys — but if he is wise, he will mistrust such feelings. He should also clip the wings of his court favourite. Absolute power, even if it is wielded by a weirdo, corrupts absolutely.

That Prime Ministers often succumb to hubris after two terms in office is a well known phenomenon. This one has barely had two months with his own mandate. Boris should beware of believing

in his own myth of invincibility. If he does, the feud between Dominic Cummings and Sajid Javid could well end by becoming his nemesis.