We can learn a lot about Rishi Sunak from his two surprises this week

After a period in which Rishi Sunak struggled to get ahead of rolling news stories about Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs and Dominic Raab’s exacting dispatch of ministerial business, the prime minister took back control of the headlines this week.

First, he surprised everyone – including the politicians involved – on Tuesday by restructuring departments and reshuffling the ministers running them. The media verdict was that it was all a bit pointless, but that it nevertheless deserved extensive coverage – especially the sting-in-the-tail appointment of Lee Anderson as deputy Conservative Party chair.

Then on Wednesday, at 8.20am, Westminster was given three hours’ notice of the arrival of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. There was a photocall in Downing Street, a session of Prime Minister’s Questions devoted to cross-party support for the Ukrainian war effort, and a plea for fighter jets from President Zelensky himself in Westminster Hall.