Is the No 10 propaganda machine trying to centralise power?

We should not be surprised that ministers are trying to assert some discipline, writes John Rentoul

Dominic Raab, as acting PM, is responsible for the Downing Street line (Getty)

The unusual case of the top civil servant in the foreign office retracting his evidence to a select committee of MPs has prompted fears about the centralising of power in Downing Street. One civil servant told The Independent: “There seems to be a sort of Ministry of Truth now.”

The fuss began on Tuesday after Sir Simon McDonald, the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, told MPs that it was a “political decision” not to take part in an EU scheme to buy medical equipment. He was contradicted by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, at the daily news briefing later that day.

McDonald then issued a letter that evening saying the information he had given the committee was wrong, and that ministers had not received an invitation to join the scheme at the start because of a “communication problem”.