Reshuffle

I prefer policies but we must go along with the fashion gig until it dies down Even the broadsheets played the game.

The new ladies may well be Goveite or thatcherite (they are right wing Tories.)

But Ms McVey does photograph well clothes wise. In Express (Wed)
alomst nude. (from previous life. ) Her accent is sort of scouse. (Makes a change) Back to policies next week. I suppose

TessoftheFurbyvilles Well all universities are private, would you prefer an Education Secretary who hasn't experienced tertiary education? At least if she was educated at Oxford she is intelligent. Of course, what she does with her intelligence and education is anyone's guess.

JaneParker, what a cheerful spin on sad news, I agree completely that the intelligent, thoughtful Mr. Hague can do better things with his life.

Oh yay - another Education Secretary who was educated at private school and then went on to Oxford - yeah she'll really know how best to treat state education won't she?

Hague is too good to waste his time as a Minster. He can do better things. I wish him well.

What proportion of senior (not minor) cabinet roles are now held by women? We need many more women. I would like 80% of cabinet posts to be held by women. I bet we are not even near 20% for the senior roles.

Very disappointed about Grieve and Hague.

Delighted about Gove.

A little apprehensive about Nicky Morgan, the new education secretary.

"mother of one"
"become an MP in 2010 - representing Loughborough in the East Midlands."
"Mrs. Morgan is a trustee of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and voted against same-sex marriage because of her faith.
This is widely seen as the the reason Mr. Cameron split the women and equalities brief last year - leading to accusations that she was the 'minister for straight women'.
Teachers celebrating Mrs. Morgan's rise may be left disappointed - as she has strongly backed every single education reform pushed through by Mr. Gove.
She voted very strongly for free schools, academies and tuition fee increases.
The Tory minister has also never attended state school herself - attending the exclusive £4,701-a-year Surbiton High School in south west London." (This was taken from today´s Daily Mail so must be read with a large pinch of salt - for example it´s unclear how an MP can vote "very strongly").

Very significant that Gove has been moved. I can't believe it is because he is unpopular among some voters, because he is popular among Tories and we have to assume that the modernisers still have a few principles left and actually believe in education reforms etc. So the fact that a big beast like Gove has been moved and will no longer be allowed to run rings around Tristram Hunt is significant.

Also the news about Hague standing down at the next election is strange.

Therefore, this reshuffle is in fact very significant and is bad news for the Tories. In which case, one wonders what lies behind it.

V interesting that Gove has gone. Parents and teachers votes needed methinks.

Claig - ah yes that seems feasible then that it's to appease the right wing and give the impression of 'toughness'

LFN - I wasn't talking about the rights and wrongs of the EU, more is there actually a concrete drive to extricate the UK from the EU? Whether that's the right thing has and will be covered by a hundred other threads :)

On balance I think the cosmetic attempt to hang on to the right of the party and the donors plus a sop to the 'housewives' is the most likely.

Thanks.

Does David Cameron really think promoting Esther McVey to Cabinet is really going to attract less traditional Tory voters?

Nicky Morgan has replaced Gove.

I like Liz Truss. Unfortunately they have given her Environment i.e. all the usual "climate change" bull.

I can see from my FB feed a lot of those in education are delighted Gove has gone, who has replaced him?

I doubt it. there are a few more rightwingers, but I think it is just cosmetic. They will all follow the EU line and promote "climate change" etc. They are not allowed to do otherwise. Merkel will give Cameron a few concessions and he will campaign to stay in Europe. Don't forget that Obama wants us to be in Europe.

Apparently donors are starting to get jittery. They probably want some real Conservative policies rather than more modernising mucking about that is driving real Tories to UKIP faster than Usain Bolt in a world record bid.

"Last night, one senior figure on the Right said: ‘Donors are not threatening to close their chequebooks – yet.

‘But they are telling Cameron that he must reconnect with what is now a very unhappy Tory Party.

...

The Tory donor demands emerged after reports that party membership has collapsed by 60 per cent since Mr Cameron became leader, amid grassroots anger at policies such as House of Lords reform and same-sex marriage.

There are also claims that party donations are drying up over despair at Chancellor George Osborne’s handling of the economy."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180307/DAvid-Cameron-Tory-donors-tell-Prime-Minister-create-true-blue-Cabinet-cronies-autumn-reshuffle.html#ixzz37UF8F4xX

The problem with this reshuffle is it is being sold as a huge reshuffle etc. But I don't think the public will feel that anything has really changed and it all looks a bit desperate. Has Cameron only sussed that things needed changing now, one year before the election? Was he not paying attention when "party membership has collapsed by 60 per cent since Mr Cameron became leader" and UKIP took tons of Tory votes?

So is this paving the way for a Conservative lurch out of Europe?

Sorry, should have been

"he wanted to bomb Syria and Parliament said no"

'LOADS, I expect!'

Going by his track record, that is an understatement!

He needs to get grip, throw the Modernisers' Manual out of the window, or even recycle it if he must and feels he has to meet EU carbon capture and recycling targets that Juncker thinks are a good idea.

Claig -

LOADS, I expect!

'I don't much like Cameron, but think he is doing quite well so far.'

I think his judgement is a bit suspect - he wanted to bomb Libya and Parliament said no, he backed Maria Miller and the public was baffled, he went in all guns blazing against Junker and came out losing 26 to 2, he hired Andy Coulson, he called UKIP fruitcakes and the public voted for them in the biggest earthquake in 100 years ...

There is still a year to go. What else will he get wrong?

I think Andrew Mitchell should get another crack at it, for the final year, after loosing his job for a to do over a bike.

Or DfID even...

Hugh Robertson has resigned as Foreign Office Minister, and Sir George Young is standing down as chief whip. Which reminds me - time for Andrew Mitchell to be brought back? Maybe at DIFD since Alan Duncan has gone.