Reshuffle rumours
James Forsyth 6:18pm
The financial crisis has rather got Brown out of his reshuffle hole. The word in Westminster is that there will be a relatively minor reshuffle tomorrow. To my mind, the most interesting question is who will Brown make Chief Whip? That choice will give us a good idea of how secure Brown thinks his position is and how he intends to handle the rebels, who haven’t gone away but are just biding their time.
Anyway, here’s a little list of the speculation that’s out there:
There’s a ton of other speculation floating around in Westminster—Liam Byrne to the Cabinet Office, Cruddas to the Cabinet, Paul Murphy to a new department of the nations—but these seem to be the main rumours. Most people are expecting a fairly undramatic reshuffle but I can’t think of the last reshuffle that actually went smoothly so expect some drama before this is all over.John Hutton to move from BERR (Telegraph)
Hillary Benn to go from DEFRA (Boulton and Co)
Tony McNulty to Chief Whip (The Sun)
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Bernard from Horsham
October 2nd, 2008 6:35pm Report this commentDeckchairs on the Titanic...
Faceless Bureaucrat
October 2nd, 2008 6:44pm Report this commentSo will Cameron follow suit and at the same time take the opportunity to 'release' Caroline Spelman to spend more time with her Famiy?...
Eddy
October 2nd, 2008 7:35pm Report this commentBrown would be mad to move McNulty anywhere - unless it's to a big Cabinet position. He always makes an impact on the TV when he does an interview.
silent hunter
October 2nd, 2008 7:58pm Report this commentWho cares?
Keith
October 2nd, 2008 8:03pm Report this commentTony McNulty.......troglodyte.
Alex
October 2nd, 2008 8:20pm Report this commentBernard from Horsham - you beat me to it
mitch
October 2nd, 2008 8:23pm Report this commentPerhaps he will do the job himself.
Fred
October 2nd, 2008 8:29pm Report this commentGiven the ineptitude of Ruth Kelly's going, can Brown organise a reshuffle without cockups?
John Page
October 2nd, 2008 8:32pm Report this commentI'd be disappointed to see Hutton moved from BERR. He's the only frontbencher in either of the two main parties to come out and proclaim how fragile our energy supplies are.
Morus
October 2nd, 2008 9:46pm Report this comment'Deckchairs on the Hindenburg' was a variant I heard the other day...
Chris Blore
October 2nd, 2008 10:30pm Report this commentThe only reshuffle that Brown needs to do is the one that involves a visit to Buckingham Palace. How about we let the public decide if it's time for a novice?
molesworth 1
October 2nd, 2008 10:59pm Report this commentDo you think lazy journalists just trawl the internet for tips...?
molesworth 1
September 25th, 2008 10:01am
I think it'll be between Nick Brown (who unfailingly reminds of Alan B'stard's fish-faced little sidekick) & Tony McNulty, of whom you'd really think twice about getting on the wrong side.
JR
October 3rd, 2008 9:16am Report this commentJohn Hutton has run an amusing side show over the past year.
Basically he's running around saying the unsayable like a man who wasn't expecting to still have a job. That's hardly surprising but what has been interesting is that Number10 have very rarely slapped him down. Now I'm sure he has absolute cover on what he's said on energy policy but I wouldn't be so sure on other things (like business regulation, union bashing, the filthy rich). Who knows it might be that Brown is happy to have him as a lightening conductor and therefore doesn't see the need/upside to slap him down. But I'd be very surprised if he was moved to a big department -although with his defense interests both personal and constutency he could be trusted to stay on message there I'd imagine.
He's a decent enough man but very much part of the Blairite tradition of loving the good life - and worshipping power and influence..........oh and Jackie Chan - http://www.jackiechan.com/gallery/207394--House-of-Commons--673475--JC-and-Big-Ben-again. Now that was funny, leading politicans including the PM and senior Ministers including JH fanboying an aging martial arts movie star.
Gordon Musgo
October 3rd, 2008 9:49am Report this commentOK, who foresaw Mandy coming back?
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