I wasn’t surprised to lose my Ministerial role, MP reveals
SCARBOROUGH MP Robert Goodwill has revealed that he was not surprised to lose his frontbench position in the latest Cabinet reshuffle.
Mr Goodwill, who was an Education Minister until this week, having been a Tory frontbencher for the previous 12 years, lost his post on Tuesday. He told the Politico London
Playbook that it was “no surprise” when he got the call late the previous day to go and see the Prime Minister.
He said: “Already in my 12th unbroken year on the frontbench and having been a Minister of State in three departments – transport, the Home Office and education – I thought being ‘rested’ was probably on the cards.
“It helped that the chief whip [fellow North Yorkshire MP Julian Smith] had already given me a heads-up. If the meeting is in the PM’s Commons office then it’s almost certainly bad news. It’s only the fortunate who get to face the cameras as they strut down Downing Street.”
Mr Goodwill said the meeting with Mrs May was “actually rather awkward”, as he and the Prime Minister both started out as candidates in the North-East at the 1992 General Election.
He said: “I actually butted in to say I knew why she had called me in, and that I quite understood the situation. She actually seemed to be more upset than I was, and we parted with a warm handshake.”
Coverage of the reshuffle was dominated by the departure of Justine Greening as Education Secretary, and the uncertainty over the future of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, meaning the appointment of junior Ministers received less attention from the media.
Asked to pick two figures to watch from this week’s events, Mr Goodwill picked Richmond MP Rishi Sunak, who was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and ex-barrister Lucy Frazer, who becomes Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice.
He added: “Meanwhile, for the first time in many years, I am actually in Yorkshire with my longsuffering wife on a Thursday.
“The bad news for my constituents is that I will have lots more time to spend with them … and I can look forward to seeing the sun coming up over the Vale of York from my tractor seat from time to time.”
I actually butted in to say I knew why she had called me in. Robert Goodwill describes his meeting with Theresa May.