After being cleared of bullying and very strong performance of late, punters have lengthened the odds on former favourite Priti Patel being the next to exit the Cabinet. Save your money, there would be a hue and cry from the Tory rank and file if she was moved. Can’t see her being pushed out in a rumoured July reshuffle.
Robert Jenrick’s odds have shortened to now make him the minister that is most at risk in a reshuffle. He is in all kinds of trouble, “Murky Links in Billionaire’s Property Deal” type headlines have not been kind to him in the last week. Jenrick’s embroiled in that perennial political scandal – a planning decision that favours a party donor. He over-ruled the local council to approve a billion pound development. Planned by developers he coincidentally was sat next to on the table at a Carlton Club fundraising dinner organised by CCHQ…
If you fancy your luck Jenrick’s 4/1 at the bookies: Next Cabinet Member to Leave.
Today’s cabinet was the first-ever fully-digital one, as last time Boris, Matt Hancock, Mark Sedwill and Dominic Cummings were all physically present in the Cabinet Room. The government has also ditched Zoom for Skype Business after Zoom’s lack of security was highlighted…
Boxes have appeared in Parliament’s Lower Ministerial Corridor, an ominous sign of preparations ahead of the impending reshuffle due later this week. Get packing…
Reshuffle day is right around the corner if rumours both inside and outside the Government are to be believed. Boris’s announcement of Cabinet meetings being moved from Tuesday to Thursday threw hacks who tried inferring reshuffle news from it. Unfortunately for the political tea leaf readers, it the sort of change often instigated by PMs. Despite hearing different dates touted, if you’re a betting man it looks like this Thursday is the most likely date.
Immediately after the election there was speculation Boris would be taking a scythe to both cabinet ministers and Whitehall departments. It now looks like the structure of government will remain fairly intact, with one minister noting particular scepticism over the proposed ‘super BEIS’ department containing the Department for International Trade. Current speculation is that a new ‘Climate Change’ department would be an easy PR win for the government…
It has been widely speculated that Cabinet’s women are most at risk this week, Coffey, Leadsom, McVey and Villiers’ names are in the frame. Liz Truss’s name was also on this list before Boris’s free trade speech yesterday, which name checked Truss four times. Which will have cheered her up…
Guido hears a senior Downing Street adviser has been tasked with scoping out potential replacements; Maria Miller’s name being touted as a possible promotion. Nicky Morgan will be relinquishing her role as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the vacancy will give an obvious opening allowing Tracey Crouch to make a return. Her son is almost four now, although there’s no guarantee she’s wanting back in the tent yet…
In the meantime, Stephen Barclay has been given a week off after finally getting Brexit done before resigning and dissolving DExEU. Guido hears his departure left confusion amongst his staff who didn’t know whether they had to come into work on Monday, after being told “I’m afraid that we have still not received guidance from No.10 on your status after tomorrow”. His SpAds also have their ears pricked in case they have to return to work by the end of the week…
As the leadership race draws to a close (less than a week to go now) MPs have started to follow in Amber Rudd’s footsteps and more openly pitch for Cabinet jobs. The most blatant of which being Mark Harper this morning…
Key to delivering Brexit will be getting Stormont up and running as well as ensuring a better relationship with the Republic of Ireland. For this, the next Prime Minister will need a serious, credible figure as their Northern Ireland Secretary. pic.twitter.com/nr7PQJxe43
— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) July 17, 2019
After his brief leadership pitch, the former Chief Whip is clearly looking to get back into the Cabinet, clearly aiming for the low hanging fruit role of Northern Ireland Secretary. Few want it and the incumbent is sure to be one of the first out the door…
Harper is also following in the video footsteps of Liz Truss who made a slightly more subtle pitch at the start of the month focusing on business. She’s now widely tipped to lead a souped up Business department. #LizForBiz
Why I’m backing @BorisJohnson to unleash British business and get us out of the EU by 31 October. #BackBoris 👇 pic.twitter.com/x5NZT7pHpU
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) July 2, 2019
We’ll start finding out if these pitches are successful in just a week’s time…
After the Chequers summit the story was one of unity and consensus, with the agreement reached by the Brexit sub-committee last week holding until today’s Cabinet meeting. Yet during today’s talks senior Brexiters say there was some “drift” away from the language of the Chequers agreement, with a few “tweaks” that appear to be trying to reset the government’s approach towards convergence with the EU. The James Forsyth App reports that an idea was proposed to make a “binding agreement” to align with EU rules and regulations in certain sectors. David Davis, for the second time in a week, was “the hero of the hour” in fighting back against the suggestion. Where did this new alignment idea come from? Those in the room detect the hand of Jeremy Heywood and Olly Robbins, May’s troublesome civil servants, trying to move the Cabinet away from the agreed position. A Cabinet source says: “It seems to be incessant tinkering and manipulation by the Cabinet Secretary and his minions when everything should be focussed on what the Cabinet agreed at Chequers”. We will see when May speaks tomorrow whether Heywood and Robbins were successful…
