Some odd choices in Theresa May’s new Cabinet
In the last three weeks, British politics has been a whirlwind of surprises. The latest shocks come with the appointment of a new Cabinet by the new Prime Minister Theresa May.
Most shocking of all is Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. He is infamous for his many gaffes and insults denigrating various foreign figures and groups. I wonder how many occasions of faux pas (apparently he is fluent in French) we will have to witness before he is forced to resign.
Then we have Andrea Leadsom as the new head of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This is a woman who wondered as energy minister whether climate change is real, once called for the abolition of farming subsidies, and now wants to repeal the ban on fox hunting.
Priti Patel is now Secretary of State for International Development even though she has a history of scepticism about foreign aid and even called for the Department to be abolished.
And then there were the appointments that were not made.
There is no Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change because there is now no such department. Energy has gone into the Department of Business and Climate Change does not figure in the title of any Government Department.
There is no Cabinet post for former Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb. One minute he is standing to be Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister; the next moment he is leaving government altogether for “personal reasons”.
Eight other Cabinet Ministers have simply been dropped – banished to to the backbenches. They include George Osborne who as Chancellor has been the second most powerful person in Whitehall. Ouch!
You couldn’t make it up ….
July 17th, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Monarchs, once upon a time, used to keep a court jester who was allowed to say outrageous things – possibly to counteract the sycophantic drivelling of the courtiers. Has Theresa May decided to restore this post? With Boris Johnston filling it?
He won’t have much else to do now.Negotiating Brexit is under a different minister as is the new International Trade portfolio. These two would normally have come under the Foreign Office.
July 17th, 2016 at 8:36 pm
I think the reasoning for appointing Johnson Fox and Davies is a so called ‘Nixon to China ‘ strategy . Only Richard Nixon had the anti communist credentials to normallise relations with China . If Brexit fails then TM will be able to say we tried with our best and most motivated people .If the result is a compromise like a Norway style deal then as arch brexiteers negotiated it some Leave voters will accept that as well as all Remain voters.
July 18th, 2016 at 11:35 am
There’s a sober assessment (mostly) on the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36803199