Reshuffle bingo

It’s a strange old world when a Prime Minister backing his own Chancellor is worth reporting. But this afternoon the Prime Minister was asked by Sky News whether he was going to reshuffle George Osborne. Naturally, he answered:

‘George Osborne is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and he has my full support in going on and doing that job. He’s not going anywhere.’

Kay Burley then pressed Cameron on whether this meant Osborne would still be Chancellor at the next election. He replied: ‘Yes.’ Now, this was quite obvious anyway. Osborne’s stock is certainly down amongst Tory MPs, many of whom are still smarting after watching the Budget unravel and who are now concerned that the Chancellor is failing to push ahead with the sort of supply-side reform they believe will get the economy moving. Even ministerial aides are now dispensing advice for the Chancellor in public. But Cameron and Osborne are in this together, to borrow one of their own stock phrases. I doubt even Lord Oakeshott, who embarrassed his Liberal Democrat colleagues by calling for Vince Cable to take over as Chancellor, would have laid a serious bet on Osborne leaving the Treasury in September. Cameron also said he wouldn’t be drawn into ‘reshuffle bingo’ over the position of Jeremy Hunt, although he praised the work of the Culture Secretary. James blogged yesterday that the real changes will probably come at minister of state level rather than within the cabinet, but one job that the Prime Minister really does need to give significant thought to is the position of party co-chair. Baroness Warsi is now free to move to a Secretary of State position after being fully cleared of the allegations about her expenses, and Cameron will be aware not just of the drop in membership that the party has experienced, but also the 45.2 per cent drop in donations to the Conservative party between 2010 and 2011 which the Electoral Commission revealed today. Note that these are figures for last year: any loss of faith from donors following the March Budget is yet to be accounted for. Cameron needs a rabble-rouser in the position of chair who can stir up both the grassroots and the donors as the party starts to turn its focus towards the 2015 election.