It’s become something of a pattern in recent months: transport secretary Chris Grayling oversees a disastrous policy move, costing the taxpayer millions or causing widespread chaos. Labour calls for him to be sacked and he remains in his role as one of the most important men in the government.
In the most recent chapter of the so-called “failing Grayling” saga, the government agreed to fork out £33 million to Eurotunnel after the company launched a lawsuit arguing that the department for transport had handed out contracts for extra ferry services in the case of no-deal Brexit in a “secretive” way.
If that wasn’t enough, the payout came less than a month after the £13.8m ferry deal Grayling struck with start-up Seaborne Freight – which had no ships and had never run a ferry service – fell through after the Irish company giving the new business financial backing pulled out.
It was revealed on Monday that a question in parliament about the Eurotunnel case would be answered by health secretary Matt Hancock, sparking rumours among politicos that Grayling “can’t be trusted to speak for himself”.
Yikes.
But after almost seven years of sparking blunders from the Cabinet (see a full list here), Grayling’s infamous reputation has finally made it across the pond, with a brutal takedown from the New York Times.
“‘They call him ‘Failing Grayling’,” the newspaper said on Twitter, sharing the article. “He has bumbled his way from one government post to another, accused of making a hash of each, and becoming a byword for haplessness in a golden age of political blundering in Britain.”
Ouch.
According to the newspaper, the reason the Epsom and Ewell MP has managed to avoid the chop for so long is his status as a Brexiteer and a loyal backer of Theresa May.
“Until Brexit happens, the combination makes him virtually impossible to fire.”
One UK politics professor told reporters: “The lot of Brexiteers who are willing to work with Theresa May and aren’t bonkers is quite small.”
To make matters worse, the second biggest US paper was forced to publish a correction after it hugely underestimated the scale of Grayling’s impact on the UK’s pockets.
“Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the amount that a Labour Party’s report claimed Chris Grayling misadventures had cost British taxpayers,” it read. “It is 2.7 billion pounds, not 2.7 million.”
All in all, not a great week for Grayling – and it’s only Monday.