Brown's Cabinet--Who stays, who goes?

[matgb]

Righty ho--I said I was going to do this, but, y'know, life got in the way. So, of the current Cabinet, Blair and Prescott are retiring, and Reid says he doesn't want another cabinet job. Leaving a huge list of other people, of varying degrees of talent. Some of them I have a grudging respsct for, some I think are crap, some inspire intense loathing on site and a few, well, I'd not even heard of them--if I've not heard of a Cabinet level minister, let's hear it for Nonentities R Us, right? Following on from Paul Linford's list of a real "government of all the talents?", I give you a poll^[1].

Remember you can not tick a box for someone if you've never actually heard of them or have no real opinion, and this is a question of who's likely to be there, not who we want in/out. For example, I suspect Blears has secured herself a plum job, despite the visceral hatred many of us have for her, and I'm guessing Ruth Kelly will survive despite obvious unsuitability for her various recent roles--I really hope Brown moves her to a job without a clear conflict of interest though:

[Poll #1008349]


I'll pimp this poll about a bit, let's see how good LJ is at predicting El Gordo's actions...

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[1] If you don't have a livejournal account but blog elsewhere, you can log in to LJ using any OpenID, including your technorati or typekey profile or your wordpress.com account and still vote in polls &c--not a bad little trick

Comments

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Ruth Kelly--Secretary of State for Being Shit and not resigning

LMAO!!

OK, I voted for what I wanted, because you should have put the paragraph below ABOVE. So I'm going to go and change all my votes now.

[matgb]

YEah, it looks and scans better below the poll, but makes less sense there; remember most others would see it with the LJ-cut. Meh, I've edited it up, you're right.

OTOH, whouk. Told you all the Lib Dems are Who freaks...

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

Ehehehehehehe I see that email address.

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

all the Lib Dems are Who freaks

Not _all_ of us...

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

So, of the current Cabinet, Blair and Prescott are retiring, and Reid says he doesn't want another cabinet job.

Lord Goldsmith has just gone as Attorney General (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6232434.stm) too. And even though he's not actually a Cabinet member, he attended Cabinet regularly (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6490597.stm).

[matgb]

Yeah, I decided not to list the people who aren't technically ministers. I suspected he'd go anyway, Brown'll want to distance himself from any potential scandal regardless.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

It also helps if the attorney general does have to decide on any cash-for-peerages prosecutions. Having Lord Goldsmith in charge of it (in theory, even if it is delegated to someone else) would just be a recipe for stupidity, so having him out of the way would help a lot.

[matgb]

That's also very true. Hmm, that might make another interesting topic for a poll; is Blair going to get charged?

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I doubt it. However, they need someone else as AG to be able to make a halfway-convincing show that it's been impartially decided. (It doesn't matter whether it has or not - it's the presentation that matters here. An entirely independent decision overseen by Goldsmith just simply can't work.)

There may be a prosecution for someone like Levy or Turner over allegations of coverups and perverting the course of justice. In the mind of the public, it'd be a cash for peerages prosecution (even though it wouldn't be), and so satisfy the need for blood.

I think Brown would want something. Just not something huge. The problem is, if Blair gets prosecuted, you just know that someone will try to call Brown as a witness. ("But didn't you speak to Mr Tony every day?") Or a tabloid will make a thing about it if it doesn't happen. Levy or Turner or someone, less of a problem - they worked for Mr Tony.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

The one I find most difficult is Jacqui Smith. She's been more than a bit shit as Chief Whip. But Secretary to the Treasury means Brown probably likes her. Though she might get moved to something Cabinet but not really proper Cabinet. One of the meaningless things, like Lord High Everything Else.

[matgb]

Aye, she's one of my 'below the radar' people, but if she's Treasury then Brown must like her in some way, so I suspect a promotion to womewhere else. We'll see, I guess. Interesting times anyway...

[eldar.livejournal.com]

Home Secretary? I know there's there's all the hoo-ha about splitting the office but John Reid isn't in the list :)

Clearly the main vacuum is going to be created by filling the position of Chancellor. My Crystal Ball says that Alistair Darling will get that job, with Hilary Benn moved up to the T&I spot.

[matgb]

Larn ta read, varmint! of the current Cabinet, Blair and Prescott are retiring, and Reid says he doesn't want another cabinet job. Leaving a huge list of other people

But yeah, absolutely, Chancellor is the big choice, I might put up a Great Offices of State poll to see what people think of them later/tomorrow as well. I'm thinking Balls might be in with a chance as well, Brown likes him.

[0ct0pus.livejournal.com]

I'm also predicting big jobs for Balls, Ed Milliband, Harriet Harman. And smaller jobs for Angela Eagle, Toady Bryant.

[matgb]

Aye, Balls is a shoe in, and Harman will have worked her way into one from the Dep leadership campaign. Plus Cruddas as well, appears Blair's been overlooking him in terms of backbench talent.