Only the other day we had ConservativeHome spouting some nonsense about Cameron's Downing Street West Wing, with a chart designed by that well known oxymoron ConservativeIntelligence. As many people will know, Iain Dale, a keen admirer of The West Wing, likes to compare himself with the fictional Josh Lyman, and often refers to himself as David Davis' former Chief of Staff. It's sad really. As Marina Hyde points out in The Guardian:

As surprises go, news that David Cameron is planning a West Wing-style reorganisation of Downing Street, should he win the election, is up there with the revelation that Michael Jackson's Caucasian kids may not be his biological offspring.

The plans are symbolic of a tendency as predictable as it is poignant: the little British politician's dream that some big American stardust will rub off on them. In fact, one has an immediate and powerful sense that this is not so much about the west wing of the White House as The West Wing off the telly.

The justification recalls the long-running series of US pharmaceutical ads, fronted by daytime soap actors, which open with the line "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV …"

Every time one of a British politician's people draws parallels with The West Wing, one thinks, "They're not a serious person – they just play one on TV …" Still, Cameron is getting ready for his tracking shot, and no doubt he'll be dreaming of fast-moving dialogue in Washington corridors soon enough. Perhaps his new West Wing set-up signals a final admission that this country has dispensed with cabinet rule, or perhaps it doesn't. The suspicion is that it inches us one step closer to government by box set.