There aren’t many real beasts of the political jungle out there any more but Ken Clarke, above, has clung on a lot longer than most.

The 74-year-old minister without portfolio who advises Prime Minister David Cameron on international trade and security issues is said to be being lined up for the axe.

Conservative grandee Lord Heseltine has said he is a “giant figure” and that Government is apparently unimaginable without him.

He certainly is far from the major player he was in Mrs Thatcher’s Governments but he represents something important in British politics: “the man who does not give a damn.”

And he has a proper hinterland. He loves jazz, cricket and bird watching. If he had a spare hour in his ministerial diary he would get his driver to take him to a proper pub for a pint of real ale and indulge his fondness for large cigars. Just sit back in your chair, close your eyes and try to imagine Tony Blair or Lord Mandelson doing such a thing. We have to keep him!