Jeremy Hunt: Everyone’s favorite new health secretary?
The background
David Cameron’s Cabinet reshuffle included a headline-grabbing move for Jeremy Hunt. The former culture secretary came under pressure earlier in the year over his role in News Corporation’s attempted takeover of BSkyB, but has now replaced beleaguered Andrew Lansley as health secretary. As The Periscope Post reported, the Twitterati was not best pleased.
Overall, the consensus is that the reshuffle represents a move to the right for Cameron. But what other conclusions have commentators drawn from the new line-up?
Cabinet whiter and more male than ever
“This is now a cabinet even less representative of British society than before,” wrote Green Party leader Natalie Bennett in The New Statesman. Bennett pointed out that “we’re now down to four women” and that there is not a single member of the Cabinet from an ethnic minority. “We’re governed by rich white males with an agenda of economic destruction in the cause of ideology,” said Bennett.
A lack of ambition, but good news on economy
Cameron’s reshuffle largely failed to bring forward new talent or get rid of dead wood, said a Times (£) editorial: “This was not an especially bold or inspiring set of moves. No great coherence of mission emerged. No clear message about government priorities was sent.” But, said the editorial, at least the PM seems to have realised that the government’s “chief failing” lies in the delivery of economic policy. While Vince Cable and George Osborne have stayed in their posts at the Department for Business and Treasury respectively, “Mr Cameron has quietly but systematically retooled their departments with a combination of business expertise and political muscle”.
Forget reshuffle, focus on policies
“Overall, this is not a reshuffle that changes a great deal,” said a Telegraph editorial. “It is the Government’s policies that matter, and especially how it proposes to kick-start an ailing economy. Mr Cameron has his new team; now we wait to see what they intend to do.”
Reshuffle appeal to Tory right will damage PM
“While the reshuffle reveals few specifics about government plans, it is an indication of which way David Cameron is leaning,” said an Independent editorial. That is: to the right. For example, Cameron removed Baroness Warsi and Ken Clarke, top bugbears of the Tory right, from their posts, and promoted Owen Paterson to the Environment Department. According to the editorial, Cameron’s swing to the right will ultimately damage his reputation: “As he planned his reshuffle, he could have kept public opinion at the front of his mind, or the alliance with the Liberal Democrats, but he chose to ignore both to placate his right wing.”
A clever reshuffle behind the hype
The reshuffle may not have been particularly exciting, but it was clever, argued Tim Montgomerie in The Daily Mail: “The most exciting moves didn’t happen at the top level of government but with the appointment of junior ministers.” This is significant because while Cabinet ministers may be the public face of government, junior ministers put in the hard graft behind the scenes: “Cameron has sent his shock troops into these water-carrying, bureaucracy-busting jobs.”
