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BRITAIN-POLITICS
British PM’s cabinet reshuffle marred by resignation
LONDON, Jan 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s long-
awaited government reshuffle Monday was branded ineffectual and shambolic
after she promoted few fresh faces to her top team and a minister resigned
rather than accept a new post.
Education Secretary Justine Greening became the fourth minister to leave
the Cabinet since November, after resisting a request to move to the welfare
and pensions ministry.
Meanwhile health minister Jeremy Hunt convinced May at the last minute to
scrap plans to move him to the business department, according to media
reports.
Most of her senior ministers also kept their jobs in the reshuffle,
including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit minister David Davis and
finance minister Philip Hammond.
The prime minister carried out what her office called a “refresh” of the
government after sacking her deputy Damian Green last month in a row over
pornography found on his computer in 2008.
His departure followed those of the defence and aid ministers in unrelated
scandals the previous month.
May hoped the shakeup would help her reassert authority ahead of crunch
Brexit negotiations this year, and following a torrid 2017 in which she lost
her parliamentary majority in a snap election last summer.
An interim deal on Brexit in December appeared to give her new impetus,
and the much-anticipated reshuffle was arranged.
But the day began in a farcical fashion when her Conservative party
announced a new chairman on Twitter, only to delete the tweet and later name
another lawmaker for the post.
“No wonder Theresa May’s struggling to negotiate Brexit — she can’t even
organise a reshuffle,” opposition Labour MP Stephen Kinnock swiftly tweeted.
Following Hunt’s reported refusal to move and Greening’s resignation later
Monday, Britain’s newspapers were quick to lambast May’s reboot.
The Times’ front page called the reshuffle “shambolic” while The Daily
Telegraph declared it the “night of the blunt stiletto”.
Some Conservative lawmakers appeared to agree, with Tory grandee Nicholas
Soames tweeting: “I don’t mean to be rude or to be seen to be disloyal but
there needs to be a major improvement to the reshuffle tomorrow.”
May is expected to announce a reshuffle of her lower government ranks on
Tuesday.
— Fragile authority –
Greening’s resignation is likely to be viewed as a challenge to the prime
minister’s already fragile authority.
She was offered the welfare ministry “but declined to take it,” a Downing
Street source said.
“The prime minister is disappointed but respects her decision to leave the
government”, the source added.
For her part Greening said in a tweet that educational issues like social
mobility matter “more than my ministerial career”, and vowed to continue to
work for young people as a member of parliament.
May’s room for manoeuvre is limited by heading a minority government and
the need to maintain a delicate Cabinet balance of eurosceptic and pro-
European ministers as major Brexit decisions loom.
After starting the two-year withdrawal process in March last year, Britain
struck a deal in December on the financial settlement with Brussels, as well
as on expatriate rights and the Irish border.
Negotiations on a transition deal begin this month, while the toughest
talks, on Britain’s future relationship with the EU including trade, are set
to start in March.
Johnson, a leading Brexit supporter, kept his job at the foreign office,
despite challenging May’s strategy last year, as did fellow eurosceptic Liam
Fox, the international trade minister.
Finance minister Hammond and interior minister Amber Rudd, who campaigned
to stay in the EU, continue as before. Former justice secretary David
Lidington took over the policy coordination role previously held by Green but
did not inherit the title of May’s deputy.
Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire, who failed to secure a deal
to restore the power-sharing government in Belfast after it collapsed a year
ago, stepped down for health reasons Monday and has been replaced by culture
minister Karen Bradley.
The former Conservative party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin, lost his job
after the disastrous snap election.
It was one of several low points last year for the prime minister, who
took office in July 2016 after the referendum on leaving the EU and began her
tenure strongly with a bold Cabinet reshuffle.
BSS/AFP/ARS/0811 hrs