May maintains balance in Cabinet as she finds a replacement for Patel
Cabinet needs sense of purpose
THERESA MAY has maintained the delicate Cabinet balance between Leavers and Remainers as she replaced Priti Patel with another hardline Brexiteer.
Work and Pensions Minister Penny Mordaunt has been appointed as the new International Development Secretary.
Ms Mordaunt, the Minister for the Disabled, has replaced Priti Patel following her resignation on Wednesday over unauthorised meetings with senior Israelis. Like Ms Patel, she campaigned for Brexit in the EU referendum and her appointment will maintain the balance between Leavers and Remainers in the Cabinet.
In her second emergency minireshuffle in the space of a week, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to promote two other women MPs.
Victoria Atkins became the first of the 2015 intake of new Conservative MPs to enter the Government, becoming a junior Home Office Minister. She replaced Sarah Newton, who moves to take over Ms Mordaunt’s responsibilities at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Ms Mordaunt made no comment to reporters as she left Downing Street following her meeting with Theresa May yesterday to head to her new department.
LIKE THE very limited reshuffle after the resignation of the disgraced Sir Michael Fallon as Defence Secretary, Theresa May did not feel she had the scope, or authority, to undertake far-reaching changes after Priti Patel – the International Development Secretary – became the second casualty of the past week.
Yet the plain fact of the matter that the appointment of Penny Mordaunt in place of the now departed Ms Patel is not going to restore the public’s faltering faith in the Government. Of course Mrs May’s many dilemmas are not helped by her Brexit balancing act; a ‘make-orbreak’ Budget on November 22 and the ongoing sleaze inquiry involving her deputy Damian Green.
That said, the delay appointing Ms Mordaunt to one of the Cabinet’s lesser roles was unhelpful – it created another vacuum – as Europe’s leaders prepare for the possibility that Mrs May’s government could fall imminently. Though the wish of most Tory MPs is that the Prime Minister survives until after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, many accept that the current malaise cannot continue.
As one backbencher told The Yorkshire Post: “Half of the Cabinet could go – and no one would notice. We need some vroom, vroom, vroom.” They’re right. Most of Mrs May’s team, with the exception of David Davis, Amber Rudd, Justine Greening and Greg Clark, are on borrowed time and it’s time the Cabinet’s ‘hasbeens’ were replaced by more dynamic and savvy Ministers.
Mrs May should also follow David Cameron’s example and have weekly – possibly daily – meetings with her top Ministers. The Tory coalition with the Lib Dems did last because of the so-called ‘quad’ in which Mr Cameron and George Osborne met with Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander. The resulting rapport meant they could foresee difficulties and plan ahead.
And, while she’s fortunate that there’s no obvious successor, Theresa May needs to decide how best to make a difference while she’s still in office. If there’s greater clarity of purpose, basic decision-making might – just – become more competent and buy the Government some respite.