Should we expect a flash sale on Garrick Club memberships? The cabinet secretary Simon Case is the second high-profile figure to have quit the exclusive all-male club just hours after earnestly defending his position. The top mandarin follows MI6 chief Richard Moore out the door. The spy chief told his colleagues that he too planned to reform the organisation from within. But something apparently changed overnight that caused those noble ambitions to come apart. Talk about a fast turnaround…

Case’s resignation from the club comes after the UK’s top civil servant attempted to make a compelling case for his membership only, er, yesterday.

‘You’ll forgive the impertinence of the question,’ he was asked at a select committee by former Labour minister Liam Byrne, ‘but can you foster a genuine culture of inclusiveness while being a member of an all-male club, like Garrick? Is that a good signal to send to the machine?’

Chuckling a little uncomfortably, Case replied:

I have to say my position on this one is also clear: if you believe profoundly in reform of an institution, by and large it’s easier to do if you join it to make the change from within, rather than chuck rocks from the outside.

He added:

And by the way, maths is also part of this. Every one person who leaves, who is in favour of fixing this antediluvian position, every one of us that leaves means these institutions don’t change. I think when you want reform you have to participate.

Well, that sentiment didn’t last long. Not even 24 hours had passed before Case abandoned his visionary ways. Perhaps too soon, Mr S would suggest. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day…