Dave’s first reshuffle has been far more wide-ranging than first thought, with a raft of junior ministerial positions changing hands this evening. The big news was Boris slamming the PM over his sacking of Justine Greening:
“There can be only one reason to move her – and that is to expand Heathrow Airport. It is simply mad to build a new runway in the middle of west London. It is clear that the government wants to ditch its promises and send yet more planes over central London. The third runway would mean more traffic, more noise, more pollution – and a serious reduction in the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people. We will fight this all the way.”
Elsewhere the major surprise of the afternoon was Nick Herbert quitting as police minister to be replaced by Damian Green, someone who knows all about brushes with the law. There was reward at last for Michael Fallon, who has been made a privy counsellor and part of the BIS team apparently as a “counterweight to Vince“. Greg Clark gets a deserved job as City minister, with Liz Truss given an education post. It’s dream team territory for Michael Gove…
It is also reported that LibDem Don Foster will be made a Communities minister. Yellow sources tell Guido that Foster threw a strop when Clegg overlooked him last time round, even going as far as threatening to quit unless he was promoted. It looks as if he’s got his way…
UPDATE: Paxo claims another victim as Chloe Smith is packed off the Cabinet Office, to be replaced at the Treasury by Sajid Javid. Matt Hancock has survived the prank phone calls to land a role at BIS. Nick Boles gets planning where he will sell the government’s plans to build in the shires.
https://twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/242906601789468672
Iain Duncan Smith was offered a job at Justice but refused to take it. Therefore his benefits should be cut.
— Carl Maxim (@carlmaxim) September 4, 2012
Christ, not Northern Ireland. #reshuffle
— Rt Hon Sir Peter Mannion MP (@PeterMannionMP) September 4, 2012
Hunt appointment shows what No.10 thinks of long term political impact of Leveson.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) September 4, 2012
Am thinking of starting a liveblog pulling together latest news on who's started a live blog & who's not updated theirs for ages #reshuffle
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) September 4, 2012
Great fact from @TomosL – David Jones is the first Jones to be Welsh Secretary.
— Craig Woodhouse (@craigawoodhouse) September 4, 2012
https://twitter.com/MirrorJames/status/242926605364756480
Do they have Sky tv in NHS hospitals…? They will now.
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) September 4, 2012
#Reshuffle Summary: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Given Health, Survived
— Mark Wallace (@wallaceme) September 4, 2012
Ken Clarke, roving Minister without Portfolio, has roved over to the Oval following his demotion earlier today:
Ken Clarke taking in the cricket at the Oval after losing Justice post. Surrey are 155-5'against Nottingham.
— Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) September 4, 2012
He hasn’t got anything better to do…
Lord Adonis has been harping on at the BBC this afternoon, accusing the government of “constant chop and change” at the Department of Transport after appointing their third SoS in three years.
That’s the same Andrew Adonis that was the third Transport Secretary in eight months under Gordon Brown, indeed Labour had a grand total of seven Transport Secretaries in thirteen years. Get that man a taxi…
As reported last night LibDem health minister Paul Burstow has been sacked:
Am told Paul Burstow's got the chop.
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) September 3, 2012
Nick Harvey has announced he is leaving as Armed Forces minister, with the MoD now turning entirely Tory. Norman Lamb gets the health job he has always wanted, while Jo Swinson replaces him at BIS. Sarah Teather is leaving the government to fight for her seat. She’s not laughing now…
Meanwhile the first meeting of Dave’s new cabinet will be held tomorrow afternoon. Pull up some extra chairs…
In July 1990 the then Aviation Minister under Thatcher, Patrick McLoughlin, told the House:
“I am afraid that I cannot say to my hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne, who so ably introduced the debate, that I can wholly rule out Heathrow. If I did that, my hon. Friends who have spoken on behalf of other areas would ask me wholly to rule out their airports as well. That is not the way forward. The way forward is to do as the Government have done—to set up a working group. [Laughter.] It is easy for Opposition Members to mock—we are used to that, but they never come forward with any constructive suggestions.”
The new Transport Secretary’s Derbyshire seat is a long way from Heathrow, though the Tories would be fools to reverse on their Heathrow election pledge. It’s as if they want to lose every seat in West London…
Boris is not very happy about the Greening move:
“There can be only one reason to move her – and that is to expand Heathrow airport. Clear that the government wants to ditch its promises. We will fight this all the way.”
This could get messy.
