Mh-hmm. There is no satisfaction offered to the public by simply replacing the man, he needed to quit, and very publically fall on his sword if any face was going to be saved from this sorry situation. Just replacing him with John Reid is pointless.
Blair's political instincts have totally deserted him
You say that, and yet tomorrow's headlines will be all about the reshuffle - about Blair excercising his power and doing things - rather than the poor local election results. As usual, Blair's political activity seems dictated by his need to control the media.
Still utter desperation in another way, however - Hoon promoted? Kelly, hardly able to handle the education brief, put in charge of Prescott's gargantuan departmental responsibilities? Unexciting old hand Beckett called on to fill the Foreign Office's chair? Blair is a man with no real talent left to call on.
I'd seen Kelly was out at Education (I think Alan Johnston in there will have his hands full, but is probably a smart move), but not that she got Prescott's old lot. I don't suppose she can be much worse?
We are all going 'Margaret Beckett?', in that though she has been sitting at DEFRA for ages, no one has actually noticed. But it makes more sense than Hoon getting the Europe bit of that brief. Good grief.
Beckett's a very safe pair of hands, and is one of the few senior Labour politicians left to Blair who can be put in one of the two big chairs. It's a sign of the paucity of his front bench but, as dull as it is, it's not a bad decision per se. Similarly, Alan Johnson's competent but un-newsworthy, but any politician must dread the prospect of the Education Bill. Backbenchers like him better than Kelly, though, which may help.
Yeah, it was the backbenchers feelings I thought would help him in dealing with the Education bill. Slightly surprised nothing appears to be happening at Health, given that this reshuffle is all about the news stories recently.
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Oh gods, another idiot bruiser at the Home Office, thats all we need.
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If you'd told me this 9 years ago I would have laughed until I cried. Now I just cry.
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You say that, and yet tomorrow's headlines will be all about the reshuffle - about Blair excercising his power and doing things - rather than the poor local election results. As usual, Blair's political activity seems dictated by his need to control the media.
Still utter desperation in another way, however - Hoon promoted? Kelly, hardly able to handle the education brief, put in charge of Prescott's gargantuan departmental responsibilities? Unexciting old hand Beckett called on to fill the Foreign Office's chair? Blair is a man with no real talent left to call on.
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We are all going 'Margaret Beckett?', in that though she has been sitting at DEFRA for ages, no one has actually noticed. But it makes more sense than Hoon getting the Europe bit of that brief. Good grief.
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