Analysis: As ‘red wall’ Tories fear unfair impact of NIC rise, No 10 knows social care battle is not yet over
For months, Boris Johnson’s plan to deliver on a pledge to solve the social care crisis was shrouded in secrecy: names were added one by one to a list held by the cabinet secretary of those brought in to develop parts of the policy so that in the event of a leak inquiry, he knew – in the words of one insider – “who to pin against the wall”.
Even the day before the announcement, many cabinet ministers were still in the dark. The key architects – the prime minister; the chancellor, Rishi Sunak; the health secretary, Sajid Javid – had been frantically negotiating a final settlement over the weekend that was just ambitious enough for their nervous colleagues to swallow.
