Behind bars: at the back exit from No10 and in the corridors of power, Gavin Barwell has been alongside PM Theresa Mayhem since June 2017

It would appear that no matter how hard Gavin Barwell and his Croydon cronies try to polish up their CVs after their disastrous couple of years at the heart of one of the most incompetent governments in this country’s long history, working for a Prime Minister widely regarded as the worst ever to occupy Downing Street, they ain’t going to have much chance of being kept on in their jobs once a new Tory Party leader is chosen.

Today is Theresa Mayhem’s final official day in her job (she’s volunteered to hold the fort until her party manages to select a replacement, bless ‘er).

Judging by some of the adverse comments about her staff in No10 from candidates for the Tory leadership, it is likely to be one of the last days on the public payroll, too, for Barwell, her £150,000 per year chief of staff, and his Croydon Conservative mates such as Mario Creatura and Jason Cummings.

Award-winning twitterer: Mario Creatura

Creatura and Cummings are both senior Croydon Conservative councillors. They, together with Nero Ughwujabo, the former CEO of the Croydon BME Forum, were handed £80,000-a-year jobs as SPADs – special advisers – soon after May hired Barwell following the 2017 General Election.

Creatura, Cummings and former councillor Sara Bashford, who somehow managed to land a job in the Cabinet Office, had all previously worked for Barwell when he was MP for Croydon Central.

Once Barwell moved into Downing Street, Cummings, the former Woolworths branch manager who has risen without trace to become the deputy leader of the Tory opposition group at Croydon Town Hall, was placed in the No10 policy unit.

Meanwhile, Creatura was handed the password to the PM’s and Downing Street’s Twitter accounts.

Pick ‘n mix: Jason Cummings

Neither appears to be as highly regarded by Tory leadership contenders as they are by the former MP for Croydon Central.

On Wednesday, Michael Gove, the 6/1 second favourite to win the leadership contest, publicly dissed Barwell and his Downing Street SPADs. Addressing an audience of Tory MPs, Gove said, “How many in this room have engaged with No10 policy unit?”

And the evening before, Rory Stewart broke off from videoing himself in Kew Gardens by announcing to Conservative backbenchers that if selected as their leader, he would  “unleash the talent on the backbenches, rather than having lunatic SPADs in No10 telling you what to do”.

Whoever could he have in mind?

• This piece of local news reporting was brought to you without a penny of subsidy from the BBC or any local councils. If you want to support independent local journalism, based in Croydon, sign up today as a supporter. For just £4 per month, you qualify for special discounts and offers. Click here for more details

• Inside Croydon Events: click here for details of hundreds of other events in and around Croydon

• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
• Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and BBC London News
• Inside Croydon named Journalist of the Year at 2018 Anna Kennedy Online Autism Heroes Awards
• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: For two consecutive years, 2017 and 2018, Inside Croydon has been the source for two award-winning nominations in Private Eye magazine’s annual celebration of civic cock-ups
  
• In 2018, Inside Croydon had 1.6million pages viewed by more than half a million unique visitors
• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or what to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com