“What a weird cabinet reshuffle“, muses Dan Hodges. “Massacre of the moderates!” shouts Labour. Yes, really. “Brutal ministerial cull” says The Mirror. On and on it goes. Yes, some Tory careers have limped unlamented into the night, including some big hitters. But the story is of ruthlessness and verve, of Dave slicing through his government and leaving behind him a pile of quivering limbs. Dan can barely hide his admiration. This is the audacity of a PM at the top of his game. Au contraire, this reshuffle is symptomatic of weakness and a belief that the Tories are looking down the barrel of electoral defeat. Continue reading
Tagged with Cabinet Reshuffle
Reshuffle: ‘Gove Out’ is a hollow victory for education campaigners
For a man who has had an online game dedicated to slapping him millions of times, it is some what of an achievement that Michael Gove has lasted as long as he has.
Derided by teachers and the butt of jokes over his condemnation of strike action despite his union past (he was a member of the NUJ and took part in a strike), Gove it seems could not weather the final storm.
The recent public sector strikes which included thousands of teachers, Gove, rather than the Prime Minister, was the focal point for hatred and ridicule. Continue reading
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Reshuffles show Westminster in its awful naked self
What is so depressing about reshuffles is that politicians see it – as do the journalists who slavishly report it – as all about themselves, their careers, their prospects , their GPT (Got Political Talent), regardless of what might be the consequential impacts on the British people.
The Prime Minister’s office issues a press notice setting out the imaginary virtues of the new appointees, copied almost word for word by the fawning journalists in attendance, with scarcely a nod to the factionalism that really lies behind the carve-up. It is about reinforcing the Prime Minister’s position which in this case means bending to the Tory Right that is the main driving force behind the government’s policy direction and which has already caused a weak Prime Minister to change course several times.
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When did a reshuffle last boost the Labour left?
The ‘who’s up, who’s down’ narrative inevitably forms the main thrust of much commentary whenever a ministerial reshuffle takes place. But for the majority of us, who know of the politicians involved solely from what the media chooses to tell us about them, that will be of little interest.
Rather more important is the new ideological balance at the top, after David Cameron yesterday unveiled the only cabinet without a single non-white face so far this century.
With Chris Grayling replacing ‘one nation’ Tory Kenneth Clarke at a key Laura Norder brief, and Owen Paterson licensed to sock it to us namby pamby believers in global warming, we have been treated to the advancement of two men who clearly stand on the right of the Conservative Party. Continue reading
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A shuffle to the right
Today, politics came back with a bang. David Cameron unveiled his first significant reshuffle since taking power after a weekend of damp squib policy announcements. In the most central area for the government, the economy, it was very much a case of plus ca change.
George Osborne, unsurprisingly, remained in place, as did Vince Cable despite being wildly unpopular with the general public and the Conservative right respectively. I suspect this was a deliberate ploy to send the clear signal that there is no intended change of course in this policy area. David Laws and Kenneth Clarke will no doubt have input but neither intend nor advocate significant changes.