Ministerial reshuffle

islandannie

Hague quits as foreign secretary = No loss

Ken Clarke gone = Sad loss of a very grounded politician,should and would have made a good PM imho a truly good man.

More to follow .

mayonnaise

William Hague has stood down as David Cameron mounts a “cull of the middle-aged white men” in his biggest reshuffle since becoming Prime Minister

The Prime Minister will on Tuesday promote as many as 12 women to his Cabinet and the lower ministerial ranks. The average age of those sacked was around 60. .

It's election time. Let's go for the female vote.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10967386/Reshuffle-William-Hague-quits-as-a-dozen-ministers-axed.html

vivatifosi

As a woman, I see this as a cynical move by a party leader that doesn't really understand women. Agree re loss of Ken Clarke, and thought Hague did a fairly good job in that role too.

I think there is a lot wrong with Parliament: braying, sexism, archaic behaviour... this will do not a jot to improve this. Plus even the most able female candidates - those who really should have their voices heard - will forever be told that they only got the job because they are a woman. Who benefits from that?

Reshuffle by all means, but put the best candidates in the job. The role of getting more of a gender balance in Parliament and then on into the government has to start at a far more grass-roots level.

wymondham

Do the new people (who happen to be mostly women) have the political clout and experience? I've not heard of them so honestly don't know, but I do like to know I can rely on those in charge in times of crisis...

purch

I don't really think you can characterise the reshuffling out of the two main head-liners as a cynical attempt at anything.

Hague has been a good Foreign Secretary, and his move is as much an attempt to utilise his vote winning personality in an election campaign, especially as it has been known for a long time that he won't be standing again, than removing him from office.

Ken Clarke is 74, and in all reality has not been a major player in this Government for a long time. As he didn't have an actual job in the Cabinet, he won't be replaced anyway.

Other Ministers, Dominic Grieve and Owen Patterson have lost their jobs due to their own incompetence, and George Young stood down as he is reaching the end of his useful political life.

What's more worrying is poor quality of Hagues replacement, and the lack of suitable quality candidates all round, be they male or female.

Generali

I think the idea is to throw a sop to the Euroskeptic wing rather than to promote women.

purch

One thing you can be certain of, is that Ken Clarke will say exactly the same thing whether he is in or out of Government, so having him in the Cabinet would not have held back his Europhile views.

princeofpounds

There was an interesting interview with, I think, John Major once.

He said that the thing most people never appreciate about being a PM and forming a government is the nightmare 'talent' pool.

There are tyipcally about 25 ministers in cabinet, with maybe another 5 attendees with House or Party roles. Each minister then normally has a deputy, and a second deputy (IIRC they are called parliamentary private secretaries).

So you might be looking to recruit ~80 people into government itself. There are 650 MPs in the Commons, of which maybe 350 will be from the governing party.

Major said something like a third of the MPs on your own side are typically 'unemployable' for political and personal reasons, so you really have a choice of just two people for any position. And that's before you even get to considering actual aptitude and qualification for the role.

michaels

Surprised to see Gove moved - payback for the briefing war with May?

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

michaels wrote: »

Surprised to see Gove moved - payback for the briefing war with May?

Just the best news EVER. Lots of champagne being swigged tonight all over the UK :beer:

purch

michaels wrote: »

Surprised to see Gove moved - payback for the briefing war with May?

I think Dave is trying to make the party a bit more cuddly and lovable in the run up to the election.

Having Gove pick fights with Teachers for the next 12 months wouldn't be ideal preparation for the General Election.

If the Tories win next year expect Gove to be in line for one of the very top jobs.