Oliver Dowden (Olive to his pals and colleagues) is a stunning character to draw visceral hatred, however however the knives are nonetheless out for him.

A bookish, quiet type of chap who is sort of affable and type of operates beneath the radar, he's by no means bothering the lists of potential leaders however is seen as a diligent, succesful and hardworking minister.

Last week, sitting in Portcullis House (PCH) on the Parliamentary property, I had a stunning dialog - not for its content material however who was saying it.

With the occasion teetering on the sting of civil struggle over Boris Johnson being referred to the police, a senior Tory backbencher got here up for a chat.

"It's really been a bad month for us. The Prime Minister has got to get a grip on things again. It's all slipping."

He went on: "I'm afraid to say that appointing Olive (Oliver Dowden) was a terrible mistake and he' going to have to rethink it."

This was not from a Brexiteer on the appropriate of the occasion or an ally of Boris Johnson, it was from a former cupboard minister who most likely nonetheless is pro-EU and detests Johnson.

READ MORE: Fears are growing on the Tory right that Rishi Sunak is trying to destroy them

The veteran MP continued: "The problem is that Olive is a technocrat, he's not a politician. He doesn't know how to fight political fights.

"In truth, there are too few precise politicians in Rishi's cupboard. He ought to have made Penny [Mordaunt] Deputy PM, she is likely one of the few precise politicians in there."

That's the polite criticism.

An ally of Boris Johnson's was much more to the point: "Dowden is an absolute snake. He must go."

But why has Dowden become the lightning rod for criticism of the Sunak government?

The answer, at least on the right of the party, is that Dowden has been Sunak's assassin in chief.

The beginning of the end of the Johnson government was when Dowden resigned on June 24 last year as chairman after two humiliating by-election results, criticising the then Prime Minister on his way out.

That in turn led to a flurry of texts to Sunak's special advisor Nerissa Chesterfield asking if the then Chancellor would resign too in a bid to get Johnson out.

The answer came back "no" but a few weeks later Sunak followed his friend out of the Johnson government and it duly collapsed.

Allies of Mr Johnson believe that the plot was always to take him out in stages. Now, though, Dowden is at the heart of another controversy relating to Mr Johnson.

Last week Downing Street denied that he or any minister signed off the Cabinet Office decision to report the former Prime Minister to the police over Partygate for a second time.

It turns out that this was not true and while the signature came from a junior minister Will Quince nobody believes it could have happened without Dowden's - or actually Sunak's - say so.

The move has looked vindictive and based on dodgy claims to say the least and now there are demands for a proper investigation.

When Dominic Raab was forced to resign over less than convincing claims that he was guilty of bullying on on April 21, Dowden was the obvious candidate to be Deputy Prime Minister.

His lack of big personality traits meant that he would not threaten to be an alternative leader, but as a former special advisor he knows the civil service machine inside out and can in theory get stuff done from his position running the Cabine Office.

More importantly, he was elected the same day as Sunak in 2015 and the two are very close friends. Dowden is regularly described as Sunak's closest friend and ally.

As a former cabinet minister and Johnson ally on the right of the party put it to Express.co.uk last week: "Dowden is a traditional instance of what you get if you over promote your mates. Useless.

"We had to put up with his inability for a long time when he was [Boris Johnson's] culture secretary along with other hopeless friends of Sunak like [Immigration Minister Robert] Jenrick."

The downside now could be that Dowden seems to have little assist on both facet of the occasion and he has grow to be the face of his Prime Minister's clumsy makes an attempt to take care of a civil struggle.

After simply six weeks within the job it feels unlikely that Sunak would ditch his good friend so rapidly.

But there is no such thing as a doubt now that the strain to take action will solely enhance and should grow to be inevitable, particularly if Dowden is confirmed to have had a hand within the newest try to assassinate Boris.

Somebody has to take the blame and, whoever is in Downing Street, that anyone is never the Prime Minister.