By Lucy Caulkett-

Theresa May’s strength shows signs of a strong leader,and so she should be.

Recently, she has had to send her spokesperson to distance her from public statements made by Boris Johnson and David Davies.

May, Britain’s first prime minister should be putting her foot down like she does.The respective ministers know their roles and should be able to stick to it. However, the men think they can ride off their own views even when they know the government line differs widely from it. Yet, the idea that some others think Theresa May may be out of line is absolute nonsense.

Let’s start with Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. He goes to Saudi Arabia and begins to criticise their shortcomings openly. The prime minister promptly instructed her spokeswoman to clarify that the Foreign Secretary is giving his own views not that of the government. Johnson is expected to have known that critical commentary against one of our allies is not in his remit.

His views should be restricted to a bar or restaurant with a nice glass of wine and one of his political mates, but not the public.

Boris Johnson  is the Foreign Secretary of the U.K government , and therefore representative of the government, not himself when he is in public. If Johnson wanted to represent his own views he should have been the prime minister, not throw the lifetime opportunity away by failing to send an all important tweet.

Theresa May is the prime minister, and will not have people try and reflect their own views  at her expense, just because they are men and can shove her leadership to one side. Let’s look at David Davies , the Brexit minister, He knows Theresa May has been trying hard to negotiate a position in which Britain stays in the single market whilst not compromising on freedom of movement. It might prove a tough task, but tough May is up for the challenge.

Davis knows the government’s position but thinks he can give a contrary view by stating that it will be improbable to achieve the single market. Those comments are not representative of the government’s position led by Theresa May.

May is trying to achieve membership of the single market and even if Davies felt it was improbable, he is not at liberty to voice those views without consent from the prime minister, Theresa May.

Davis may think attainment of the single market is improbable, but he needs to realise that the woman leading the country is ambitious and has not given upon on the idea.

 So, when May comes and distances herself from those statements, she should be applauded for acting like a leader and keeping her ministers disciplined as they should be.

When operating under the umbrella of a government,it is politic to toe the line of the government’s protocol. Theresa May needs her ministers to support her political stance, not carve out an ideology of their own that conflicts with hers. This is common sense.  Mp Diane Abbott on Andrew Marr’s show on Sunday morning, lent support to Johnson’s but is in no position to express those baseless views of hers. She is in the opposition party and Johnson is the foreign Secretary to the government. What Theresa May says goes, and that’s that.

Theresa May’s joke about Johnson’s ability to stay “on message” in her party conference speech, after he once went beyond what was expected of him had already followed an earlier derision in the chancellor’s autumn statement about his leadership ambitions shows traces of  a running frustration with Johnson for a while. The only baffling thing is why she selected him as Foreign Secretary if she finds his ways so intolerable.

. The latest one about the out-of-control dog choked by Michael Heseltine, and put down when its master decided it wasn’t needed any more,” was a bit below the belt but shows the extent to which she is being angered by the continued defiance of ministers who are sometimes running their own agenda when they know who the boss is.