Welcome to Downing Street, Prime Minister.
My name is Sir Richard Ashworth. I am the Cabinet Secretary — the most senior civil servant in the country, and the man who will brief you through whatever the world decides to throw at us.
Your election was decisive. The mandate is real. But I must tell you plainly: the honeymoon period the press will speak of simply does not exist. Not this year. Not on this planet.
I've served four Prime Ministers. You are inheriting the most volatile global or