JUST when Union Central thought things couldn’t get any worse.

After, what was to some, the untimely departure of the urbane ex-MP Luke Graham as head of Boris Johnson’s Union Unit, it now seems the anti-independence project has lost his replacement – after less than two weeks.

The Union Jack-sock wearing Oliver Lewis has abruptly exited as the supremo of the rebranded and rather grandly titled Union Directorate now relocated within the Cabinet Office; Michael Gove’s manor.

Mr Lewis’s role as the top Union strategist, sources suggested, was being made “untenable” by colleagues in No 10. Who could they mean?

It will be remembered that Mr Lewis is a friend of the controversial Svengali-like figure and now departed Dominic Cummings. Nicknamed Sonic, Mr Lewis was a fellow Vote Leave campaigner and acted as deputy to another top Brexiteer Lord Frost as he led the tortuous trade talks with Brussels.

Of course, this week the peer was coincidentally made a full member of the PM’s Cabinet as he took charge of managing relations with the EU post-Brexit; also from within the Cabinet Office.

It was suggested that Lord Frost’s elevation amounted to a “side-lining” of Mr Gove as the Minister for post-Brexit Britain.

Indeed, the finger of blame for this claim appears to have been pointed at Mr Lewis by none other than Carrie Symonds, the PM’s partner. An irate Boris, supposedly, called in Mr Lewis to give him a “bollocking” but Mr Lewis defended his ground, denied the allegation being made against him and quit.

Amid all the Downing St psychodrama, it has to be said Mr Gove coolly insisted he was perfectly relaxed about the appointment of Lord Frost, a former diplomat and Scotch Whisky Association chief.

Could it be that Mr Gove, tipped for a top job in a forthcoming reshuffle, has other more immediate fish to fry?

One suggestion being put about Whitehall is that the PM/Minister for the Union is getting mightily concerned about matters Scotland and feels his Scottish chum needs to take full control of the Union Directorate.

Indeed, the new body has been actively recruiting staff recently to begin the “big push” to defend the Union Kingdom in the run-up to the Holyrood poll.

It may be that all the dots do not add up but one does get the sense of a powerplay going on in Downing St as one newly created role leads to the departure of another.

Needless to say, the SNP strategists were raising a glass at the Downing St goings-on. Indeed, none other than the chief Nationalist herself could not resist the need to express a bit of schadenfreude at Messrs Johnson and Gove’s expense.

Nicola Sturgeon took to social media and tweeted: “Disunity in the Union Unit. Or maybe just despair at realising how threadbare the case for it is.”

Of course, the First Minister may seek political fun where she can find it given what may or may not about to happen with her predecessor.

But it certainly seems to be the case that things are not running smoothly in Union Central.

To misquote Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest: “'To lose one Union Unit supremo, Mr Johnson, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.”