From Matthew Parris's column in The Times today..."That John Prescott, after appearing in newspaper photographs with a lady’s legs wrapped around his massive neck, should be rewarded with the confiscation of everything but the dignified part of his office, is a joy. That Margaret Beckett, after failing comprehensively as an agriculture minister to deliver EU payments to farmers, should be put in charge of the whole of British foreign policy is divine. That Jack Straw, one of the diminishing band of senior ministers who doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong recently, should be the biggest loser, is priceless. That the Secretary of State for Defence should become the Home Secretary because the former Foreign Secretary has been Home Secretary already and can’t really be Home Secretary again, while he (the Defence Secretary) has already been Health Secretary and can’t be Health Secretary again, and the Leader of the House (who can’t be Defence Secretary because he already has been, but needs to vacate his post so the former Foreign Secretary can have it) has a new “ Europe” portfolio invented for him — and everyone immediately begins arguing about whether he is a Secretary of State for Europe or not — suggests a Cabinet-maker running out of timber. This isn’t a Cabinet, it’s a food fight."
6 comments:
My guess is that Straw got the heave-ho due to his Iran quips ('Attacking Iran is nuts'). Whether what he says is true or not, it doesn't matter, the problem is that he did say it. Sometimes, it is just better to clam up :-X
'Der Spiegel' loved the quip about the titanic deckchairs so much it made it the headline. However, no jokes about strategic towel-placing were made =)
Interesting about Der Spiegel. NDR (Nord Deutsche Rundfunk) covered at length the election and reshuffle but no real, cutting focus. They didn't seem to know what to make of it. Much like the British press, so no surprise.
As to the towels. Watch it. They're going to rub our noses in it at the World Cup I fear. Again...
Love the Matthew Paris article. He also branded Blair 'delusional' last week. I keep peddling the reshuffle as Blair's "Clausewitz". This is scorched earth of the highest order. And the man is quite mad in my opinion.
macles, you may well be right, though it all depends what happens to the earth after it's been scorched.
Apres moi le deluge is one thing, but a couple of things have caught my eye, both being pushed by the diminutive new cheerleader:
the rethinking of the labour website, concentrating on 'innovative ways of communicating' and 'radical thinking' (not of policy, merely of presentation) to capture more under 35s,
and her enthusiasm for the re-education of any Blairite waverers by compulsory study of seminal speeches and texts by Tordo and Gony to 'restore idealism'.
Year One, anybody?
"not of policy, merely of presentation..."
The thing about 'liberals' is that they always want to be judged on intention and never on the consequences.
Doesn't Mathew look stunning these days? That sun-tan! Wow!
cinnmon is half right - Straw's Iran quips didn't help (just as the Bush administration's dislike of Robin Cook helps explain his demotion to Leader of the House), but another factor was Straw's bouncing Blair into a referendum on the European Constitution, not to mention Straw's glee at the NO votes (which allegedly led to Blair calling him a 'tart').
As a Labour activist, I'm disappointed not to see Hillary Benn made the new Foreign Secretary. Beckett was never going to be sacked, when she'd make too much trouble from the backbenches, but to make her Foreign Secretary after the farm payment mess is dreadful.
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