The world's silliest job title is here and it belongs to a minister

One of The Thick of It's writers recently made it clear who is to blame for the series ending: our politicians for being impossible to satirise.

Tweeting a picture of Ed Miliband with the 8ft stone he had literally carved his election promises on, Simon Blackwell wrote "Ed Miliband builds a policy cenotaph. And you wonder why we stopped doing The Thick Of It."

Today in more news of things that actually happened in British politics, we bring you the development that James Wharton, the 31-year-old MP for Stockton South, Teesside, has been named the Northern Powerhouse minister. Yes, really.

This is how David Cameron announced the promotion:

Reaction to Wharton's job title can, so far, be described as incredulous:

The Parliamentary Under Secretary Role was worth £89,435 per year under the last government. As Northern Powerhouse minister Wharton will be responsible for helping develop the north of England and developing plans for a high speed rail link between Leeds and Manchester.

More: This is how bad the north-south divide in the UK has become