Cabinet reshuffle: Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic? Photo credit: Stuart Monk / Shutterstock.com
The background
David Cameron has embarked on his first major Cabinet reshuffle since becoming prime minister. Early casualties included Baroness Warsi, who lost her position as Conservative co-chair, and Kenneth Clarke, demoted from justice secretary to minister without portfolio.
The political commentariat is abuzz with speculation as to who will face the chop and whose star is set to rise. But putting aside individual changes, what is the wider point of the reshuffle, and will it make any difference?
The ideal reshuffle
Tom Clark explained in The Guardian how the ideal Cabinet reshuffle should work: “The best-laid plans involve promotions for loyalty and talent, demotions for unruliness or blundering, as well as new faces to freshen things up. Inevitably, this also requires the retirement of political deadwood.”
Cameron’s reshuffle options limited
“Mr Cameron has limited freedom of manoeuvre,” wrote Iain Martin in The Telegraph, pointing out that Deputy PM Nick Clegg holds a veto on moves involving Lib Dem ministers. What’s more, said Martin, Cameron “hates” reshuffles and is “wedded to continuity”: “He believes that colleagues need time in their job and that the ministerial merry-go-round favoured by Tony Blair was counter-productive.”
Cameron should be bold
“A bold, surprising, imaginative reshuffle would be best,” declared a Times (£) editorial, suggesting London Mayor Boris Johnson for Tory chair and Lib Dem Vince Cable for health secretary. However the PM chooses to play it, said the editorial, he needs to get a grip on his party and “at least make sure he demonstrates that he has a government that can implement a reform programme, not just talk about it”.
Reshuffle can’t save the Coalition
“The mistake of Cameron, Osborne and Clegg was not to recognize that they danced precariously on a tiny, cluttered stage in the summer of 2010, with the backdrop of a hung parliament and the epoch-changing financial crisis,” wrote Steve Richards in The Independent. Whatever the details of the reshuffle, “nothing they do this week can re-write what they did in the summer and autumn of 2010, not least because they do not want to change the script. The dark days of another autumn are on their way.”
Forget reshuffle, PM needs to show leadership
“The Prime Minister is wise to freshen up his team but the blame for any future under-performance will be laid at his door, not theirs,” said a Daily Express editorial. “He must show he has the right stuff to turn Britain around and he must do so soon.”
