Michael Gove came up against an unexpected assailant while addressing an Urgent Question on the appointment of Sir David Frost as National Security Adviser this afternoon. Former Prime Minister Theresa May was cutting in her remarks…

“why then is the new National Security Adviser a political appointee with no proven expertise in national security?”

Yet Frost has worked in fields dealing with national security for decades, having first joined the Foreign Office in the 1980s. Later on in the exchange Gove reminded the House that traditionally the roles of Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser have been split. When David Cameron was in opposition, the then principal National Security Adviser was also a political appointee…