Politics can be a tough and ruthless activity, especially if your climb up the greasy pole turns into a rapid slide down it. And, if you are a senior Cabinet minister, like Gavin Williamson, the fall can appear terminal. The PM wielded the knife today, firing a string of cabinet ministers and promoting new faces to replace them. In addition to Mr Williamson, the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, was demoted to the justice department. With his legal training, though, he will no doubt prove a round peg in a round hole. However, I'm not sure what his predecessor, Robert Buckland, did wrong. He seemed very capable. Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Priti Patel kept their jobs, which is good news. Both Ministers are competent. Liz Truss was promoted to the Foreign Office, and Nadine Dorries, who spent time in jungle, moved to culture. Oliver Dowden became the Party Chairman. There will be more moves tomorrow in the junior ranks. After dentist and barber, I worked through the morning to lunchtime, when I walked to the Conrad Hotel to join a Spectator lunch, hosted by its Editor, Fraser Nelson. The topic for debate was defence and I met a number of representatives from a company called Subsea Craft, which have built a small submersible. It's being trialled at Portland in my constituency, so I was delighted to meet the senior management and to hear all about their project. Two other colleagues, Flick Drummond and Julian Lewis, were also there. After lunch, I joined a public session of our European Scrutiny Committee, chaired so ably by Sir William Cash. At 1800, I joined a meeting of the ERG. We had not met for a long time, so it was nice to catch up with like-minded colleagues and debate a number of issues. Votes came at 1900, and then home. Prince Andrew's chances of escaping the clutches of the courts diminished today, with the High Court in London saying it would formally contact the Duke about allegations of sexual assault filed in a US court. Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre, who has accused Prince Andrew, requested the High Court contact the prince about the civil case launched in New York. The prince's lawyers have argued he has not been properly served notice of the case. Prince Andrew has consistently denied Ms Giuffre's allegations. His spokeswoman has declined to comment on the latest development.