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Asked about Kemi Badenoch’s suggestion that the highest civil servant had been thrown below the bus to avoid wasting the Prime Minister’s pores and skin, and whether or not he had been a scapegoat for the Prime Minister’s failures, water minister Emma Hardy advised Sky News: “No, I really don’t think he is. But of course, Kemi’s going to say things like that. That’s the usual political knockabout.”

Ms Hardy paid tribute to Sir Chris’s “35 years as a civil servant, so that’s his entire career dedicated to public service, and I’ve got a huge amount of respect for anybody who puts that much into public service, so I, you know, I wish him all the very best for the future”.

Asked about the truth that there had been three high-profile departures from Government in latest days, she mentioned: “Well, I think he (Sir Keir) is keen to, sort of, you know, look at his team and make sure that we have the team we need to deliver on the priorities this year.

“I mean, he’s absolutely dedicated to cutting the cost of living. He was talking about that in the meeting that we had on Monday. I know for definite that’s what people talk to me about here, and how they constantly talk to me about problems around the cost of living.

“So I think it’s right that he has a team that is able to drive that forward. But I do want to say I have nothing but respect for Sir Chris or the rest of the people that have served within the Government, and you know, I hold them in the highest regard, but like in any situation, if people make a mutual decision that it’s time to move on and try something else, then I respect that.”