The list of Cabinet Committees and who’s bagged a seat at each table is out, and it’s bad news for Angela Rayner. She’s been unceremoniously snubbed after missing out on a permanent seat at the high level National Security Council. Guido was inspired to make a list of the most powerful cabinet ministers in order of how many committees they have permanent membership to:
Out of the ten committees, Reeves is on 8 of them, McFadden is on 7 and Cooper’s on 6. As it stands, the following are currently on more than one committee:
- Rachel Reeves: 8
- Pat McFadden: 7
- Yvette Cooper: 6
- Jonathan Reynolds: 5
- Nick Thomas-Symonds: 5
- Angela Rayner: 4
- John Healey: 5
- Ed Miliband: 3
- David Lammy: 3
- Peter Kyle: 3
- Hilary Benn: 3
- Richard Hermer: 4
- Wes Streeting: 2
- Bridget Phillipson: 2
- Lucy Powell: 2
- Jo Stevens: 2
- Ian Murray: 2
- Darren Jones: 2
The Red Queen only managed to scrape in on 4 committees – just one more than ‘Red Ed’. Deputy Prime Minister in name only?
If Sir Keir thought axing Sue Gray would grease the wheels of government, he might want to think again. No 10 insiders are already grumbling that no amount of reshuffling can fix the “systemic issues” bogging down the machinery of state, with Sue now painted as the “scapegoat” for Downing Street’s chronic inefficiency. The brief spin that Gray’s departure would magically bring about the “right structures to deliver change for the country” has already gone up in smoke…
One example of such effectiveness is the Cabinet Office. The department’s LinkedIn page proudly announces they’ve had a “very busy month” in September. Their idea of busy being just three achievements: the announcement of Queen Elizabeth’s memorial site, the introduction of the hereditary peers bill, and the formation of one committee. Not exactly a revolution in governance, though apparently enough to warrant self-congratulation…
One civil service expert said:
“This is a sort of thing most ministers would’ve managed in the first hour of a morning in previous administrations. Particular given that there are seven ministers pictured in the shot who collectively appeared to delivered three pieces of administrative work, which would’ve been the responsibility of civil servants anyway.”
So much for “change begins”….
Guido thought he’d spare a thought for those Labour MPs who served their time as junior shadow ministers and were swiftly snubbed by Starmer (or Sue Gray) as soon as the Party entered Downing Street. Though departments and roles have moved around and changed titles since Labour came into government, Guido has a breakdown of a list of MPs who held junior roles in Opposition until May 2024, though didn’t make the cut for the real deal:
- Florence Eshalomi – Shadow Minister for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government.
- Jessica Morden – Shadow Minister for Wales. After holding an Opposition post since 2015, she was booted out by old timer Nia Griffith.
- Bill Esterson – Shadow Minister for Transport.
- Matthew Western – Shadow Minister for Higher Education since 2021, replaced by Brown-era Jaqui Smith as Minister for Skills.
- Helen Hayes – Shadow Minister for Children & Early Years since 2021, replaced by Janet Daby as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing.
- Chi Onwurah – Shadow Minister for Science. Chi served as a shadow minister every year Labour were in Opposition from 2010-2024.
- Toby Perkins – Shadow Minister for Nature and Rural Affairs replaced by Emma Hardy
- Ruth Jones – Shadow Minister for Agri-Innovation and Climate Adaptation since 2020.
- Ruth Cadbury – Shadow Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation replaced by cobbler James Timpson.
- Chris Evans – Shadow Minister for Tech and Digital Economy.
- Tanmanjeet Dhesi – Shadow Minister for Exports replaced by Gareth Thomas.
- Gill Furniss – Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions and loyal to Starmer’s shadow cabinet since 2020.
- Mary Glindon – Opposition Whip.
Meanwhile, there’ve been cries of favouritism from MPs who’ve seen rapid promotions of a cadre of well-connected newly elected members. Some of which include:
- Hamish Falconer – minister for the Middle East and Africa. And son of former justice secretary Lord Falconer…
- Georgia Gould -Cabinet Office minister. And daughter of New Labour grandee Lord Gould and leader of Starmer’s local council…
- Sarah Sackman – Solicitor General, who worked closely with;
- Lord Hermer -Attorney General. And close ally of Starmer…
- Liam Conlon – Parliamentary private Secretary (PPS) to Transport. And Sue Gray’s son…
- Imogen Walker – PPS to the Treasury. And Morgan McSweeney’s other half…
- Torsten Bell – PPS to Cabinet Office. Left-wing think tank Resolution Foundation’s CEO and former SpAd to Alistair Darling while he was Labour’s chancellor and the visionary genius behind the Ed Stone…
Sadly for the former loyal lot, they’ve been shoved to the backbenches. Oh to be a part of the Labour elite…
Grim reading for civil servants sitting on the moral high ground today as the Cabinet Office publishes its annual gender pay gap report for 11,081 staff. The median pay gap, already up to 16% last year, has shot up to 20.2%. The Cabinet Office’s “Gender Champion” Elizabeth Gardiner says the figures are “incredibly disappointing“. Meanwhile the UK median pay gap this year is only 7.7%…
The report is blaming agencies under the Cabinet Office’s remit for the fact that the median male earns 20% more when there are actually more women than men (a 53-47% split). The Government Property Agency is attacked for having “a high proportion of property professionals who are highly paid and disproportionately male“. The Cabinet Office’s report is also blaming the fact that more of its women are working outside of London, where the pay grade is lower. London property prices will soak up that pay gap in no time…
The Cabinet Office seems surprised that its “2022-2025 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan” isn’t working and promises to take continued action to do things like “ensure that jobs are designed and advertised in a way that is gender neutral” which means “recruitment is appealing to all and does not dissuade women from applying“. All methods Guido is sure will have no effect whatsoever…
SpAds, on the other hand, are much more equal than the reactionary civil service. Across the 117 SpAds present in March this year, the median pay gap was only 10.8%, with the upper hourly pay quartile skewed 72% men, 28% women. 38% of SpAds in total are women – they’re otherwise fairly evenly spread throughout the pay bands. The civil service could learn a thing or two from political appointments…
The Cabinet Office has offered Julia Hartley-Brewer a public apology after mandarins unlawfully described her as a “known vaccine sceptic” in official government documents. The apology follows legal action which revealed the government’s “Rapid Response Unit” had spread the misinformation in a report on “vaccine hesitancy”. Hartley-Brewer’s ““No. No. No. NO!!!!” tweet in response to a Telegraph story on childhood Covid vaccinations was deemed sufficient evidence of her supposed scepticism. Despite being vaccinated herself…
Brewer released a statement last night:
“I am shocked that the British government spent time during a pandemic monitoring, attempting to censor and smearing a journalist who was simply trying to do her job by asking the right questions and challenging the prevailing orthodoxy. I was not a “known vaccine sceptic”, as my on air and online comments clearly prove.
“A government unit that was supposed to challenge foreign governments disseminating lies online was used against British journalists and MPs expressing reasonable concerns about Covid policies. And now we have proof that this same unit was actually responsible for lying about me.
“I am particularly concerned by the fact that the British government shared this false information about me with a US government counter-terrorism unit set up to tackle Russian, Chinese and Iranian propaganda. This is very sinister.”
The Cabinet Office’s not-so secret report was shared with at least 64 UK Whitehall officials, as well as US counter-terror staff. An apology two years later is the least Julia could expect…
The Cabinet Office has lost its legal battle to withhold Boris’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from the Covid inquiry. In a judgement today, the High Court ruled the materials must now be handed over to inquiry chair Heather Hallett, as there were no “reasonable” reasons not to do so. Another blow for Rishi…
The Cabinet Office has responded:
“The Inquiry is an important step to learn lessons from the pandemic and the Government is cooperating in the spirit of candour and transparency.
As this judgment acknowledges, our judicial review application was valid as it raised issues over the application of the Inquiries Act 2005 that have now been clarified. The Court’s judgment is a sensible resolution and will mean that the Inquiry Chair is able to see the information she may deem relevant, but we can work together to have an arrangement that respects the privacy of individuals and ensures completely irrelevant information is returned and not retained.
We will comply fully with this judgment and will now work with the Inquiry team on the practical arrangements.”
Time to hand ’em over…
Read the full judgement below:
