Politics - Gordon Brown Cabinet Reshuffle June 2009

5th June 2009
* No change for Ed Miliband or Lord Mandelson
* Geoff Hoon steps down as Transport Secretary
* Labour set for big defeats in local elections

Over the last twenty-four hours the rumour mill of political intrigue and whispers driven
on by the media machine has reached overwhelming proportions. The current crisis in British politics started with the nationalisation of the banks and the global credit crisis. It was made worse with the Daily Telegraph revelations about the MPs expenses. This has resulted in all political parties and the body politic being damaged. The revenge from the public is expected to come in the form of protest votes and no votes in the European and council elections.

Party politics
It is not surprising Gordon Brown and the government are the focus of most of the criticism from the political classes, media and the public. This is the role of the government and part of the job of being the incumbent. What is surprising is that the parliamentary Labour party have embarked on a dance with death and the old Blairite Vs Brownite rivalries have again come to the surface. Many have thought that these days were over.

Over the past week at times it has looked as if the parliamentary labour party have ommitted themselves to a perverse Hari Kiri which in the end will only benefit the opposition parties and leave the grass roots supporters and party workers demoralised and bewildered in the movement they support.

Both the Conservative and Liberal Democrats are trying to take the political advantage and build on their respective improvement in the opinion polls. As expected they are calling for a general election. This is an obvious move but an interesting one when the public are so dismayed with the political classes over the expense scandal. Opinion polls have a history of being proved wrong so it would be naive of Cameron and Clegg to put all their faith in them.

The Conservatives have been damaged by the expenses scandal in the same way that Labour have been. Many commentators agree that the Cameron team are ‘policy lite’ and have yet to come out with some concrete ideas as to how they would govern. In comparison the Liberal Democrats while unscathed by the expenses scandal still remain the smallest party who never gain from the electoral system. The challenge for Clegg is that many members of the public think that Vince Cable is either the chancellor, the leader of the party or indeed both. They also challenges in communicating their policy to the electorate. However it is important to note that early indications show that the Liberal Democrats will gain in the local elections the results which will be delivered on Sunday evening.

The Future
It is expected that Gordon Brown will successfully reshuffle the cabinet which should work to bolster his strength. If he achieves this the calls for him to step down from within his party should calm down. He will immediately need to set about focusing on the general election which will be within twelve months. The challenge he now faces is to get the support from his back benchers, the parliamentary Labour party and most importantly to reconnect with the grass roots. To achieve this one would expect that he will need to swing the left and back to the core Labour heart land. He will need to be seen to invest and make real tangible changes on the ground in lowering unemployment, solving the crisis in education and investing in
industry.

Brown needs to focus on cleaning up Westminster and will be hoping that the economy
improves and that the fiscal policy delivers the changes that are needed to beat the credit crisis.

Cameron and the Conservatives will continue to ride high in the opinion polls and pose a great threat in the next general election. Today they are bookies favourite to win but maybe not with the landslide that the current opinion polls indicate. They will need to work on the nuts and bolts and communicating their policies.

The Liberal Democrats while making inroads in the local elections will have to work harder to convert their gains in the opinion polls to become a reality at the ballot box. In summary there is a tidal wave of change that is underway in UK politics. Twelve months is a long time in politics and it is possible that Brown and his cabinet could turn the tide and win the next election. But at present this is not appear a realistic possibility.

Changes in Cabinet
* Alan Johnson – Moves from Department of Health and becomes the new Home Secretary
* Yvette Cooper – Moves from Chief Secretary to the Treasury to Work and Pensions Secretary * John Hutton – Steps down as Defence Secretary
* Andy Burnham – Moves from the Department of Culture to become the new Health Secretary
* Geoff Hoon – Steps Down from office
* Bob Ainsworth – Defence Secretary
* John Denham – Moves from Innovation Secretary to become the Minister for Health

No Changes
* David Miliband – Foreign Secretary
* Ed Miliband – Climate change Secretary
* Alistair Darling – Chancellor
* Lord Mandelson – Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
* Jim Murphy – Minister for Scotland
* Douglas Alexander – Minister for International Development
* Hilary Benn – Minster for Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
* Harriet Harman – Leader of the House
* Peter Hain – Minister for Wales
* Jack Straw – Justice Minister
* Ed Balls – Education & Children’s Secretary
* Lady Royall – Leader of the House of Lords
* Sean WoodWard – Northern Ireland Secretary

New Arrivals
* Sir Alan Sugar to be Enterprise Tsar – Non Cabinet post
Other Political Changes
* Paul Goodman, Conservative MP for Wycombe – Shadow Communities Secretary to
step down at next election.

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