Ineptitude

Wikipedia tells us that "the Peter principle is a concept in management theory.... It states that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and "managers rise to the level of their incompetence".

The obvious political example of this theory is the unfortunate Amber Rudd, floundering in a sea of incompetence in her role as Home Secretary.  As The Guardian puts it:

After the best part of two weeks trying to firefight the Windrush scandal, Amber Rudd is a shell of a human being. Devoid of honour and credibility, her ambition narrowed down to mere survival. Putting one foot in front of the other and keeping on keeping on. One day after another, one blunder after another. She now knows so little she can barely remember her own name. Or what her job is. Her incompetence is now almost total.

For her latest outing in front of the Commons to explain why she had told the home affairs select committee there were no targets for deportations, when a Home Office official had minutes earlier admitted there were, the home secretary came armed with the support of, not just her Home Office team, but also cabinet members Michael Gove and Sajid Javid and several dozen backbenchers. The Tories are desperate for her to keep her job. Not because they believe in her competence but because they know that if she goes, the prime minister is vulnerable.

In any other circumstances, Rudd’s defence would be fairly straightforward. It was nothing to do with me, guv. It was the fault of my predecessor, who was a bit useless. As this is denied her, she is left not waving but drowning. She began by declaring her undying love for the Windrush generation. The home secretary has been doing a lot of hand-wringing loving in recent days. But then she’s got a lot of loving to fit in to make up for the many years when she didn’t give a toss.

And she is not the only one in this government to appear utterly unsuited to her or his appointment.  Consider David Davis, the Brexit minister who said his department had undertaken Brexit impact statements when they clearly had not and who is obviously not up dealing with Michel Barnier.

But the clearest exmple of the Peter principle is the Prime Minister who arguably reached her maximum level of competence as a respected - if unloved - home secretary and who has fallen apart since securing the keys to No 10.