Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Reshuffle.
Reshuffle
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that he would like to make two things clear. Firstly in relation to the Department of Constitutional Affairs, it had never been the intention to create a ministry of any other structure. This was not "put together at the last minute because another plan had been thwarted" as some journalists seemed to believe judging by the calls he had received this afternoon. This was always what the Prime Minister had wanted to do. Just because journalists learnt about it at 5.45 yesterday afternoon, did not mean it had not been carefully thought through for some considerable time before hand. It was never the intention to create a Ministry of Justice, taking away powers from the Home Office and just because some reshuffle stories were half right, it didn’t mean they had been all right when they were written. Secondly that in relation to a quote from this morning, when he acknowledged that some of the details last night had been a little hazy, he didn’t think anyone could claim after this morning’s briefing that there wasn’t clarity, as some people were now trying to claim. Inevitably when you were announcing the personnel of a Cabinet reshuffle at 5.45pm it might not be possible to dot the Is and cross the Ts on every single question.
The PMOS went through some of the changes made in the Government. He told journalists that Keith Hill would move from the Chief Whips Office, where he had been Deputy Chief Whip to the Housing and Planning brief at the ODPM, obviously a very important appointment in light of the Chancellors’ statement on Monday.
Mike O’Brien had been promoted, and would take on Baroness Symons’ job as she would now be Minister of State for the Middle East, which indicated the importance the Government attached to that region and the MEPP. Mike O’Brien had done that job as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary before today. Hazel Blears had been promoted from Health and would do John Denham’s old job as Police minister. Baroness Scotland had been promoted from the LCD and would replace Lord Falconer.
The PMOS highlighted the fact that the totality of the appointments in the Home Office meant that now five women would be working along side David Blunkett.
Margaret Hodge, whose post we had issued a Press Notice on already, would take on the important role as Minister for Children. This would be the first time we had had that particular post. This appointment was particularly important given that the government would be publishing a Green Paper taking forward proposals from the Laming report in to the Clambie case. There would be a lot of child protection issues as well as the under-fives and preschool part of the job. Her previous job as Higher Education Minister would be taken over by Alan Johnson, who had impressed the Prime Minister with his work so far within Government. Higher Education was obviously going to be a key part of the public service reform agenda. The PMOS said that as he understood it Alan Johnson hadn’t been to University himself. Of itself that sent a signal of the Governments’ commitment to open up access.
Jacqui Smith moved from Health where she was a Minister of State. She would now have the additional job as Deputy-Minister for Women. Elliot Morley had been promoted at DEFRA. Rosie Winterton had been promoted to Health. Estelle Morris would return to the government as Minister for Arts. Desmond Browne would move on promotion from Northern Ireland to replace Nick Brown at DWP. Malcolm Wicks had been promoted from within the department, doing Pensions. John Spellar would move from Transport to Northern Ireland. Kim Howells had been promoted from Culture to Transport.
The PMOS went through the changes at Parliamentary Under-Secretary level.
In answer to questions the PMOS, Chris Mullin would return to the government. Asked why, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had always had a high regard for his abilities.
In answer to who would do what, the PMOS said that some of the details were still to be finalised. Announcements would be made by the departments in due course.
Asked how many women had been brought in to Government the PMOS said that he didn’t have precise figures but he thought it fair to say that a significant number of women had been promoted and the Government was very fortunate to have a large number of very talented female ministers.
Asked if Douglas Alexander as the Duchy of Lancaster attended Cabinet, the PMOS said that he took over the title that Gus McDonald had had who hadn’t attended Cabinet, so no.
Asked if the Department of Health had been totally "cleared out" the PMOS pointed out that John Hutton remained at the Department of Health. There had obviously been a number of changes at Health, but there was continuity there as well. The Prime Minister believed it was a talented team.
Asked if Ben Bradshaw would take over the Fisheries portfolio, the PMOS said that these things were best checked with the department, because he didn’t know whether each individual Secretary of State had agreed to maintain the previous arrangements.
Asked if there was any particular reason why Barbara Roach had been "ousted" the PMOS said that the fact that people had left Government should not be regarded in any way as an indication that they had not served Government with great distinction, they had. Baroness Blackstone for example had said that she had wanted to do more work outside Government. But it was always the case that at any reshuffle the Prime Minister wanted to bring new people in to Government and that meant making spaces available.
Asked to explain the decision to remove Nick Brown the PMOS said that further to what he had just said Nick Brown had since 1997 done a huge amount for the Government in the Whip’s Office, at MAFF and at DWP. But the PMOS repeated it was always the case at reshuffle time, the Prime Minister had to make room to bring people in. Some people had stepped down and the PMOS would like to pay tribute to all of them on behalf of the Prime Minister for the distinguished work they had done for the Government.
Asked if Chris Mullin had been brought back in order to encourage other people who had left the government the PMOS reminded journalists that it was not the first time someone had been brought back to government. Mike O’Brien was shining example of such a case. It showed the Prime Minister’s desire to reward talent. Just because someone had left the Government that didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t return at some future time.
Asked if given Margaret Hodge’s promotion to Minister for Children the Prime Minister was fully aware of the Child Abuse scandal at Islington Council when Ms Hodge was the leader of that Council the PMOS said that there had been a number of Child Abuse cases over the years across the country. What this appointment demonstrated was the Government’s commitment to focusing on these issues in a way we hadn’t done before, with the publication of the Green paper and a Children’s’ Minister. The Prime Minister had been impressed with the work Margaret Hodge had done within Government and believed that she was the right person to take this forward.
Asked if Kim Howells had been moved in order to curb his controversial comments in the past the PMOS said that as he had said before when Kim Howells comments had been brought up in briefings, he gave the lie to the idea that Government Ministers were all buttoned up robots, which was sometimes the caricature that people tried to present. Kim Howells did speak his mind. More importantly the Prime Minister believed that he deserved his promotion for his efforts at promoting Britain. He had his own individual style which we all enjoyed.
Asked whether it was striking that Alan Johnson was Minister for Higher Education given that he hadn’t gone to University the PMOS said that our policy on Universities was very clear. The reason why Alan Johnson had been put in that post was because the Prime Minister believed that he had the ability to make a success of it. The PMOS said that an important part of the role was of opening up access. This sent a strong signal that someone without a University background was still able to reach a senior position within the government. Questioned further the PMOS said that the Government was committed to addressing the very difficult issue of University funding where we had acknowledged there was no simple option. If there were a Holy Grail in relation to this we would have found it, but there wasn’t and there would have to be some tough decisions as set out in the Paper published to Parliament in December. What this was about was working with the Universities to improve them, through ensuring there was more funding going to Universities, better access and making our Universities better than they were, so we didn’t hemorrhage staff abroad. So that we had both excellence and access. Asked further whether Allan Johnson background would be a handicap the PMOS said people should not be so snobbish about this. Allan Johnson was a very talented minister whom the Prime Minister believed to be the right man to do the job.
delicious
digg
facebook
