The smallest of mini-reshuffles announced at PMQs, with BT chief executive Ian Livingston replacing Stephen Green in December. Livingston will be trading his £9.1 million pay package, chauffeur rides to work and holidays to Martha’s Vineyard for a seat in the House of Lords. He is hated by the Communication Workers Union, though one detail will please the Tory backbenches in particular:

New trade minister Ian Livingstone, just announced by Cam at #PMQs, is strong Eurosceptic, I am told—
Patrick Hennessy (@PatJHennessy) June 19, 2013

According to the This is Money back in 2008:

“His commute now is by chauffeur-driven car. He is picked up at 6am for delivery to BT’s HQ near St Paul’s at 6.40am. He eschews the business lunch and tries to avoid all but the most important of evening engagements. He will do business breakfasts ‘so long as they start promptly at 7.30am’”

He’s in for a surprise moving to the public sector…

Two weeks ago Dave’s key defence against Tory plotters, his relative popularity compared to the party, was wobbling. Today Peter Kellner has some figures that will have Downing Street breathing a collective sigh of relief. Ed is less popular than Labour, somehow Clegg is less popular than the LibDems, though Cameron is again preferred to his party. Kellner says this is the graph that shows the Tories will lose in 2015 if they ditch Dave…

Like any blogger…

Brutal stuff from Dave on Labour’s tax avoiding donor:

“It is this government that is putting aggressive tax avoidance at the heart of the G8 agenda, and what do we hear this week from the Labour Party? They give tax avoidance advice to their donors.”

His bluster was the only highlight of a dull PMQs, though this is utterly dishonest from the PM. Miliband might be in hot water here, though the truth is that all parties offer tax avoidance advice to their donors, Labour, the LibDems and the Tories. As Guido reported last summer, Cameron’s own legacy scheme helps donors “reduce or even remove completely” the inheritance tax liability of rich Conservative backers.

All parties advise donors on how to avoid tax on their donations. Dave is in no position to take the moral high ground. 

Number 10 haven’t taken Andrew Bridgen’s Brady letter too well. After Bridgen huffed:

“There is a credibility problem with the current leader. It’s like being in an aeroplane. The pilot doesn’t know how to land it. We can either do something about it or sit back, watch the in-flight movies and wait for the inevitable”

… he has now been summoned for a meeting with the Chief Whip. Presumably he’ll be asking them why they leaked his name to the press…

Dave promised a “new era of transparency“ under this government. Number 10 says tonight’s meeting will be private and they will not reveal who he speaks to or what is said.

One of Dave’s best defences against leadership chatter has been the line that he is personally more popular than the Tory party as a whole. Worryingly for him, for the first time that is no longer the case. This Lord Ashcroft poll is pretty bad for the PM:

Paging Adam Afriyie…

“I know I’m the one who’s been in Ibiza but they are the ones who’ve been taking policy altering substances.”

Dave’s rave days are long gone…

Disgruntled Tory MPs who have shown ankle to Adam Afriyie were surprised to hear his allies tell them to please refrain from writing any letters to Graham Brady. “We were asked to ‘wait’,” one tells Guido, “not sure until when though.” The theory goes that Afriyie believes he has enough names pledged to trigger a vote of confidence, if he ever chooses to push the button. Guido is sceptical. With the maths as it is, as it stands it would be a suicide mission. 

As Ben Brogan wrote this morning:

“A confidence vote would have untold consequences for the party. It would look self-indulgent, not least because it is unlikely to result in Mr Cameron’s ejection, and therefore change at the top. It would serve only to highlight his – and the party’s – internal weakness.”

It seems Afriyie is acutely aware of this fact.

One theory put to Guido is that Afriyie, and the disgruntled 2005 backbenchers around him, are only in it for jobs. Gambling that if they can play peacemakers behind the scenes between Cameron/Osborne and the Tory Right, then they would be rewarded. There is nothing about the character or past behaviour of the leadership that points to this plan working though. There is only going to be one loser here…