At the weekend I asked you to take part in a survey to decide who David Cameron should promote into his Shadow Cabinet, and are of Cabinet material. Here are the top 10
Ed Vaizey 53%
Damian Green 39%
Justine Greening 28.8%
Adam Afriyie 21.7%
Greg Clark 20.9%
Edward Garnier 15.7%
Maria Miller 14.2%
Shailesh Vara 11.5%
John Maples 11.3%
Mark Francois 10.9%
I then asked which of the Tory 'big beasts' David Cameron should include in his first Cabinet. I was very surprised that Ken Clarke didn't score more highly.
David Davis 72%
Iain Duncan Smith 59%
Sir Malcolm Rifkind 43%
Ken Clarke 39%
Peter Lilley 24%
Nicholas Soames 14%
Michael Ancram 13%
Someone pointed out I should also have included David Trimble in the list. Indeed I should have, as I hope he will certainly be in a Conservative Cabinet.
37 comments:
Reckon Trimble will have retired way before there is a Conservative cabinet. If he hasn't joined one of the unionist parties in parliament instead of parlaying with wreckers.
Wot - where's Hague the Younger?
David Trimble ; You have to be joking
Ken Clarke : not unexpected he needs to be pensioned off as he has nothing worthwhile to say , is untrustworthy and a failure.
Clarke? After his Lisbon Treaty traitoressness and his half-assed English Parliament review?
Thank god he got beaten by Cameron. Time for him to promoted to the other place.
was portillo on the list?
Wot? no Hague? He's the best Commons performer they have.
I am surprised John Redwood hasn't featured as a big beast. He strikes me as someone who regularly holds the govt to account in debate and is pro-business and for public service reform. So he scares the horses god knows they need scaring. A brain and experience like John's can't be sidelined
Iain,
I just cannot believe that Soames received more nominations that John Redwood. Especially when one takes the number of people, especially Tapestry, acknowledging him.
as the odl codger says.
I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!
Anyone who thinks Soames should be in any Cabinet (rather than simply resembling one) is a sandwich shy....
Marimony seems to have had a detrimental effect! You are no longer setting the news agenda along with Guido, you are merely following it. I suggest you buck up!!
DD should be Home Secretary, without question. IDS deserves a position of importance after his compelling work with the Centre for Social Justice - perhaps Cabinet Office Minister to coordinate work across all Whitehall departments and thus ensure as many policies as possible also act in the name of social justice. The Conservatives are employing a similar initiative with regard to the environment, by promising that all manifesto pledges will be vetted beforehand by the environmental researchers to ensure that they comply with the requisite green label.
As for Shadow Ministers who deserve a place in a Cameron Cabinet, Vaizey and Afriyie are strong choices. I still think Nadine Dorries should be a Shadow Minister - if not a Shadow Cabinet member. After all, as a former nurse and director of BUPA, isn't she more qualified to develop health policy (and to run the department or to pass its day-to-day management to a board of clinicians whom she trusts) than Andrew Lansley?
And Rifkind should be Foreign Secretary...
Apologies for the third post in as many minutes, but I also forgot to mention that John Redwood would make a very competent Chancellor. He has received well-deserved compliments over the past year for his well-written blog, for his thoughtful comments on how to begin to resolve the financial problems facing the UK in the short term, and for his strong Commons performances.
It's a shame to see him satirised and shunned for no real reason. Redwood would make an excellent first Chancellor for Cameron whilst Osborne gained more experience in a lesser position - perhaps as Chief Sec to the Treasury.
No Grant Schappes? That's a bit odd. No Dories? Even odder. Why would anyone put Miller in the list who has done what exactly?
Your lists are a being given multiple hits Iain by interested parties I reckon.
Redwood is not a big beast. He is not even a big tree. He is an old-time swivel-eyed loon who costs the Tories a million votes every time he crawls over the parapet; a throw-back to the reason for three lost elections.
Keep him in a cupboard under the stairs. Or lose the next election.
With the exception of David Davis, the "Big Beast" list looks more like the potential cast list for a re-make of Dad's Army.
If we have to wait 2 more years for a General Election, think how old most of these former ministers will be in 2010.
Anonymous at 5.38. Sigh... grant Shapps already attends Shadow Cabinet. The list which people voted on included all Tory frontbenchers. Maria Miller is on the front bench. Nadine isn't. It's that simple.
I would add Jonathan Evans, the former member for Brecon and Radnor, and prospective candidate for Cardiff North. He is the only real choice for the Welsh Office. Cheryl Gillan has done a good job in the shadow portfolio, but we must have a Welsh MP for the job in Government.
Did any one hear tim yeo on radio 4this morning? I thought he gave an excellent nulab spin on the fuel prices. He said the nulab had not increased fuel tax enough to combat carbon emissions. He said that tax on fuel was less in real terms than in 1997. He said the retrospective tax on cars was the correct thing to do as governments tax for the future, and that the Consertative party supported this. He said the working party he was chairing supported the governments stance on fuel duty but were pressing them to meet commitments made on carbon emissions.
He said that hauliers in the north east or north west had no worries about foreign competition as it was too far away from the south west hauliers, who must be some kind of different species of working mam.
Im sure the entire broadcast is availiable to be listened to again on the bbc I player.
yeo is an idiot.
Redwood is one of the brightest, and nicest, and sexiest men around, with a lovely dry sense of humour.
And no, I'm not his mum.
I think IDS would be able to do a lot more for the Social Justice cause by being given a major role in the Lords.
perhaps Yer 'avin' a Turkish! could put in a link to his blog containing well written and informative posts. Then we could see if his opinion is worth a toss.
and Iain could make some of the names links so that we could find out who these important people are.
Surely the whole point of the 2001 leadership election was to prove that even a candidate about whom virtually nothing at all was known, apart from a bit of a Eurosceptic buzz, was more acceptable to the useful elements of the Conservative Party than Ken Clarke? If IDS did nothing else of any use to anyone, surely he at least proved that Clarke, for all the years he'd spent bellowing over the Despatch Box, was actually a much smaller beast than had generally been assumed, in large part due to the sort of myopic enthusiasm for a united Europe that virtually no one of any political significance in this country now openly shares?
And as for the Cabinet (not that I believe Cameron's capable of winning an election, but let's play along with your premise) there needs to be a role for Patrick Mercer, who has the sort of maturity, experience, judgement (if not about media fuss and the spinelessness of some of his colleagues, then about things that matter far more) and real toughness that any future Tory prime minister is all too likely to need.
What about Stephen Dorrell? Competent former Cabinet Minister, under 60, once considered leadership possible. But he's hardly pulled his weight over the last 11 years.
I am highly astonished that you were "very surprised that Ken Clarke didn't score more highly".
Not that it matters as the Lords beckons.
Ken Clarke wrong on the EU, wrong on devolution, wrong on bleeding jazz too.
David Trimble in a Cabinet?
A Tory cabinet cannot just be whichever faces please Tory members, hardcore libertarians sputing off about "ZanuLab" and the Guido comments section.
It has to be a Cabinet to serve the whole nation, including 10 million plus who (touch wood) voted for it, and of course for all those who didn't.
John Redwood should be in the 1st Cameron cabinet, ideally as Minister for Europe. He would also make a great Chancellor.
Mark Francois has done a brilliant job on Europe, and was bloody good whip before that too. He would make an excellent cabinet member - not least because he is wedded to the job but doesn't seek power!
Nic Soames - God give me strength!
Malcolm Rifkind in - Foriegn Secretary. Michael Ashcroft in (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster). Andrew Micthell out. Grant Schappes for a full position too - International development maybe. I think that Redwood would make a good member too - preferably comthing to do with business - or even chancelor?
But no Ken Clarke please!
bring back William Waldegrave as Leader in the Lords. the one truly decent member of Major's govt.
Er... let's get real on the 'big beasts', shall we?
- IDS is not a 'big beast'. He's never sat in a Cabinet. Outside the party, he made zero impact as party leader. It is true that he has done absolutely outstanding work in the field of social justice and exclusion, so DC should most definitely listen to what he has to say in these fields. So some role, certainly. But probably not Cabinet level.
- Kenneth Clarke is a true 'big beast'. Unfortunately, as we have we seen in the last few days in the puerile reaction of many to the 'West Lothian' question report, he is simply too divisive a figure, and in any case it is too late. So, no, DC won't give him a big role, and probably he'll have no role at all.
- Sir Malcolm is a bright and incisive figure, but I don't think DC needs him in a front-line role.
- Peter Lilley/Nicholas Soames/Michael Ancram: Unlikely!
So IMHO really the only contender of those you listed is DD. Very popular with many in the party, and, given recent events, with many outside the party. But seen as something of a maverick. (In politics, you don't get many marks for sticking by your principles...). So I think he'll end up with a senior but not central role.
The big name excluded from Iain's list is John Redwood, who talks and writes a lot of sense. However, he's not a figure who appeals to non-core voters, perhaps because he is too direct in drawing attention to unpalatable truths. So, again, probably not a front-line role.
My guess is that DC will stick with mainly younger people - the 'big beasts' of the future.
How about old faces returning (after all you'd need more seats) I always liked Chris Patten, thought he did Hong Komg well....
Like many, I'm profoundly disappointed not to see John Redwood on that list - more brains, sound views, application and political skills than most of them, if not all. A far more suitable choice as C of the E than Boy George.
For heaven's sake, don't let Rifkind anywhere near a shadow cabinet, much less a real one. I'm a Conservative - admittedly a David Davis / John Redwood Conservative rather than the flippertigibbet Cameroon variety - but even for me Rifkind instantly recalls the weakness and vacillating of the Major years.
You are out of touch if you dont understand why KC does not have the support of the public. Its called the EU and him sitting next to Blair on promoting the EU.
Iain you need to visit the real world more often.
Anonymous said...
"Anyone who thinks Soames should be in any Cabinet (rather than simply resembling one) is a sandwich shy...."
Well, call me hungry but I think he should be - he makes good points and the way he does it is hilarious. Every Cabinet should have one.
judith said...
"Redwood is one of the brightest, and nicest, and sexiest men around...And no, I'm not his mum."
But are you his 'companion'?
Wyrdtimes said...
"Ken Clarke wrong on the EU, wrong on devolution, wrong on bleeding jazz too."
And wrong in destroying the education system.
Iain - I noticed in your earlier blog entry requesting people's views, you gave your own suggestions for some younger faces that are your suggestion as Cabinet material/potential Cabinet joiners. Wouldn't it be better, and more interesting, to see who others suggested unprompted by the Great Dale. Were the results a true reflection of people's views? Or an affirmation that the people you thought should join sounded like good choices to the susceptible masses / an exercise in name recognition and popularity ("oh yes that Ed Vaizey is jolly good fellow..
Four of the five new faces you personally suggested, ranked in the results for those voted for by your readers... so its more intersting to note that one you suggested didn't - David Burrowes... off-beam choice by you Iain? Too low profile? Didn't recruit assorted youths to vote for him and thus building on the 'bigging up' you gave him ...?
I am amazed that Ken Clarke scored as much as 39%. Must be a lot of very old Conservatives voting, even older than me!
And, as for Soames - do leave off!
You can't be the only person to notice that Clarke is unpopular. He is feared as a threat who will be labelled triumphantly as a pro-European Tory by the BBC (splits?) meaning all 3 main parties will be able to push stupid Euro ideas, like the Euro. We need at least 1 Eurosceptic party. People who think the Euro is right for Britain should join the LibDems.
He is nice, but yes, one area of disagreement (when its this one) is enough to sideline him.
Soames is quality, he should definitely be in
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