Cameron delivers Tory coup in shake-up of No 10 policy unit

Jo Johnson, younger brother of London mayor Boris Johnson, will on Thursday be given a ministerial role as head of the Downing Street policy unit, in a significant shake-up of David Cameron’s political operation.

Mr Johnson will have a key role in shaping and delivering Tory policy, in what amounts to a Conservative coup over a part of the Downing Street operation staffed mainly by civil servants.

Meanwhile, Downing Street have confirmed that Steve Hilton, the prime minister’s former policy guru, will not be returning from his Californian “sabbatical” to a full-time role.

Instead he is expected to fly to London “a few times a year” to discuss policy ideas.

Mr Hilton took up a role at Stanford University last year as part of a family move to California and few believed he would ever return to his position as Mr Cameron’s chief “blue sky” thinker.

He had became frustrated by what he regarded as civil service obstruction and the lack of “ambition” of the Cameron administration. His “Big Society” idea has been quietly sidelined by the prime minister.

John Redwood, a former head of Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit, welcomed the introduction of more “political savvy” into an operation previously staffed by civil servants.

After criticism of an apparently lacklustre Number 10 operation and a sense of drift, Mr Cameron wants to put rising Tory stars at the heart of shaping the party’s policy ahead of the 2015 election.

It is also an attempt by Mr Cameron to connect Downing Street with a restive parliamentary party and to show he is listening to a range of views, including those of his critics on the right.

“This is a more political – Thatcher-style – policy unit,” said one Conservative official. “There has been criticism that it hasn’t been political enough.”

The promotion of Mr Johnson, a former Financial Times journalist, to a ministerial role in the cabinet office has caused considerable joshing in Downing Street: elder brother Boris is seen as a rival to Mr Cameron.

The London mayor is said to have congratulated his younger brother – MP for Orpington – on his appointment. Mr Johnson, described by Downing Street aides as having a “brilliant mind” is also close to the chancellor, George Osborne.

The overhaul of the policy unit will be seen as a blow to Sir Jeremy Heywood, cabinet secretary, who believed that civil servants should staff the operation, which links the centre with the rest of government.

But Mr Cameron has grown frustrated by what he sees as a disjointed operation and Mr Johnson’s appointment as head of the policy unit is one element of changes that make it much more political.

Other rising Tory MPs, including Jesse Norman, George Eustice, Jane Ellison and Margot James, will work on an advisory board, providing policy ideas to Mr Cameron and the policy unit. Peter Lilley, former cabinet minister, will also join the board.

Tory special advisers will also move into the policy unit, although it is understood that some civil servants will remain.

The promotion of Mr Johnson will generate much speculation of future Johnson rivalries at the top of the party.

Jo, aged 41, is the youngest of the Johnson children and was elected only in 2010. He is the first minister to run the policy unit, a post formerly held by Paul Kirby, a civil servant on secondment from KPMG.