David Cameron ‘will live to regret’ cabinet reshuffle
Most government reshuffles are [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] to put it bluntly non events: they are mere shifts of faceless men and women, vying with each other for insignificance.
But this one was in a different league, a small earthquake in Whitehall.
Here was the undisputed Tory hero of the past four years a man with a mission, a crusader, an obsessive, who has shown the courage to hurl himself into the task of salvaging Britain’s ruined schools system in a fashion no other holder of [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] his office in modern times has attempted.
Even Margaret Thatcher never dared to face a showdown with the teachers’ unions, betrayers of generations of Britain’s schoolchildren.
No wonder many people who welcomed David Cameron’s premiership in 2024 have since been disappointed.
Today, he seems a much less substantial figure. A chorus of critics say: ‘Of course Cameron wanted to be Prime Minister. But what for?’
I doubt if there was an NUT member in the land sitting quietly at home last night: they were all out dancing around bonfires, celebrating their great ‘victory’.
What was Cameron thinking of to [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] sack Gove? Presumably he seeks to calm the storm, rather than face an election amid an ongoing war with teachers.
John Major did the same 20 years ago, when he appointed, as Education Secretary, Gillian Shephard, herself a former schoolmistress, in place of the abrasive John Patten.
But it will be remarkable if Gove’s successor, Nicky Morgan, shows anything like Gove’s messianic determination in driving through reform.
The unions will have to be fought through breakfast, lunch and tea for years to come. There is no more important victory for a British government to win than that of restoring standards in schools, to empower our children and grandchildren to compete with their peers in Europe and Asia.
An old friend of Cameron’s told me back in 2024 that the Tory leader’s most serious weakness is his judgment of people, ‘which is terrible’.
Events particularly the hiring of the disgraced former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his director of communications confirm that view.
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Again and again, he pushes round pegs into square holes, or removes them from round ones.
The place where a reshuffle is really needed is within 10Downing Street to shift the tight little troop of Etonian boy scouts who proffer so much poor advice, especially on foreign policy, and even more especially on Syria.
Beyond Gove’s dumping, the most significant aspect of the Cabinet changes is plainly William Hague’s departure from the Foreign Office.
He has been coasting towards retirement for months, and certainly not performing much useful diplomacy.
But it was assumed that he would stick around until the election, and, meanwhile, he wore an [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] air of good natured gravitas which was serviceable to the Government.
At first sight, his replacement by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is bizarre, when Britain badly needs to build European alliances.
Hammond is an accountant who displays the warmth of an undertaker and less personality than most laptops.
On reflection, however, we can see a logic in his appointment.
Hammond is no fool, and a paid up Eurosceptic. When he tells European governments that if Britain does not secure a renegotiation of its EU membership he, for one, will vote to get out, they will need to believe him.
And if it all goes wrong and the Prime Minister finds it expedient to ditch Hammond downstream, there will be few mourners to make a fuss.
His replacement as Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, seems a good choice. There is relief within the Ministry of Defence that Liam Fox has not been recalled to his old post, in which he did not shine.
Fallon inherits Armed Forces demoralised by Hammond, who seemed to care only for numbers rather than people. If Fallon, a bright and decent former Business Minister, can restore the confidence of our soldiers, sailors and airmen that they are not mere turkeys in Downing Street’s eyes, being fattened up for redundancy, he will earn his corn.
Michael Fallon, pictured, was a ‘good choice’ as a replacement for Defence Secretary Philip Hammond
Of course, it is welcome that Cameron has promoted a string of women to ministerial roles. All that is now needed is that they should prove themselves worthy of them.
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