Last week I went to the launch of Michael Heseltine's new book, From Acorns to Oaks. Anyone writing a 400-page book in their 92nd year might be expected to concentrate on the past. Not Heseltine. The book is about what needs to be done now, its subtitle being ‘An Urgent Agenda to Rebuild Britain'.

I had the privilege of working with Michael during almost all my nine years as a minister. When I was appointed local government secretary in 2015, the first telephone call I made was to Michael to ask him if he would be my special adviser. I remember later that day welcoming him at the entrance to the department alongside then-permanent secretary Melanie Dawes.